AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF ROLE THEORY IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WIDOWHOOD AND LIFE SATISFACTION

摘要

The purpose of this study was to test the social role theory in terms of widowhood transition among individuals in middle and later life. In this study, there were two approaches. One was the inter-comparison approach between married and widowhood individuals. The other was the intra-comparison between pre-widowhood and post-widowhood within individuals. For the analyses, data collected across the years 2006 to 2012, from the 1st to 4th wave of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging was utilized. The sample was individuals over 45-years-old and who experienced widowhood transition once or who stayed married (N=5,735). The dependent variable was life satisfaction. The independent variable was widowhood status as time-varying dichotomous variables. Utilizing the STATA program, the pooled model and the Fixed Effect model were analyzed. In the pooled model, the differences in life satisfaction between the married and the widowed were significant. In other words, widowhood individuals showed lower life satisfaction than the married. In the fixed effect model, however, widowhood was not significantly associated with life satisfaction. These results imply that the social role theory is not supported. That is, it is likely that other time-invariant characteristics among individuals may be associated with low life satisfaction in the context of widowhood transition in middle and later life. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.