ArticleInnovation in aging2024
Cognitive Decline After Divorce and Widowhood: Is Marital Loss Always a Loss?
Article in Innovation in aging, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Between vulnerability and agency: inner dilemmas and adaptive self-reinvention among widowed older adults living alone in Southwestern China.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Life after loss: cognitive differences by gender and age following widowhood or divorce transitions.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Cognitive Aging in the Context of the Housing Crisis: Trends and Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study.Canadian studies in population · 2026Article
- Factors associated with cognitive performance among urban older adults of Dodoma City, central Tanzania: a cross-sectional study.Discover mental health · 2025Article
- The Cognitive and Mood-Related Costs of Loneliness: Why Marital Status Matters in Old Age.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Combining cross-sectional and longitudinal genomic approaches to identify determinants of cognitive and physical decline.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Marital status and risk of dementia over 18 years: Surprising findings from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Gender, Marital Histories, and Cognitive Impairment in Later Life: Does Remarriage Disadvantage Women?Innovation in aging · 2025Article
- Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Symptoms (DASS-21) in Elderly Women in Association with Health Status (SHSQ-25): A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- A study on cognitive trajectory changes and predictive factors in middle-aged and older adults individuals with dual sensory impairment based on the health social determinants model.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- The Association Between Divorce and Late-life Brain Health in a Racially and Ethnically Diverse Cohort of Older Adults.Alzheimer disease and associated disordersObservational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Background and Objectives: We used longitudinal data to determine whether the type of marital loss is associated with the rate of cognitive change before and after divorce or widowhood. Previous research found that relationship status was associated with older adults' cognitive performance: married persons performed better on memory assessments and had lower dementia risk than unmarried-cohabitating, never-married, divorced, and widowed persons. However, the end of a marriage may cause distress or reduce distress because a stressor disappears. Questions thus remain about the mechanisms by which marital change affects cognitive outcomes and, specifically, whether termination of marriage can improve cognitive performance for some. Research Design and Methods: Using data from the 1998-2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study ( Results: Participants who divorced showed no difference in trajectory distribution; widowed participants were more likely to be in the lower-performing and more quickly declining groups. Participants had lower rates of decline following divorce (β = .136, Discussion and Implications: We found that the type of marital loss was important, and predicted improvements in cognition for some and decrements for others, with individuals who were divorced performing best while those who were widowed or separated but not divorced performing worse.
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