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Emotional Well-Being in Recently Bereaved Widows: A Dynamical Systems Approach

¹ Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham.
² Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Indiana.

Address correspondence to Toni L. Bisconti, University of New Hampshire, Department of Psychology, Conant Hall, Durham, NH 03824. E-mail: tonib{at}cisunix.unh.edu

A dynamical systems approach was used to model the intraindividual variability in emotional well-being following conjugal loss. Well-being in a sample of 19 recently bereaved older adult widows was measured every day for 3 months. The pattern of variability of well-being was hypothesized to be an oscillating process that damps across time (i.e., large swings followed by a gradual damping). Results indicated that there was significant patterned variability in the emotional well-being adjustment that can be modeled by a linear oscillator model (R² =.77), in addition to an overall positive trend. Applying dynamical systems analyses to capture variability and subsequent well-being trajectories following spousal loss is an important step in delineating the complex adjustment to widowhood.