Date of Award

6-26-2026

Date Published

August 2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Sociology

Advisor(s)

Janet Wilmoth

Keywords

care work;physical activity;social support;stress process model;widowhood;women and aging

Subject Categories

Gerontology | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Sociology

Abstract

Abstract This study investigates and expands understanding of how care work, widowhood, social support, and physical activity intersect in the lives of older recent widows. The study addresses three primary research questions examining the duration and intensity of care work, pre- and post-death social support, and factors that influenced widows’ physical activity before and after the death of their spouses. Thirty semi-structured, face-to-face interviews conducted with heterosexual widows aged 60 and older residing in Upstate New York who were widowed within 6–24 months prior to interview. Interviews explored care work experiences, social support, widowhood transitions, and both structured and non-structured forms of physical activity across the life course. Data transcribed and analyzed through thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns and themes within participants lived experiences. The Stress Process Model, Life Course Theory, and Sociology of the Body theoretical perspectives provided a framework for understanding the relationships among care work, social support, widowhood, and physical activity. Participants (age 62 years to 94 years) represented both long-term care work experiences associated with chronic illness and sudden spousal deaths with little or no care work period. Interviews investigated experiences related to care work intensity, social support, grief, physical activity, and everyday adaptation during both care work and widowhood. Care work intensity emerged as the strongest influence on widows’ emotional, social, and physical experiences. Results indicated informal and formal social support significantly influenced widows’ ability to manage care work responsibilities and maintain aspects of everyday life such as physical activity during care work. Emotional, instrumental, and informational support from family members, friends, neighbors, healthcare providers, religious communities, and formal services reduced isolation, redistributed care work labor, and provided opportunities for temporary relief and social connection. Support experiences were highly uneven among participants. Widowhood emerged as a multidimensional transition shaped by care work history, disrupted routines, loneliness, identity reconstruction, and changing support systems following the death of a spouse. Widows described grief, relief, silence, emotional exhaustion, and altered daily routines as interconnected and embodied experiences. Dependable social support helped many women gradually reconnect with social life, routine, and emotional stability after loss and increase physical activity. A contribution of this study is its extension of Sociology of the Body scholarship by demonstrating how care work, widowhood, social support, and physical activity are physically lived and experienced through embodied processes across the life course. Care work strain, grief, exhaustion, vigilance, loneliness, and social isolation are not solely emotional experiences. Experiences are carried and internalized through fatigue, disrupted sleep, bodily depletion, altered movement, and chronic physiological stress responses over time. One limitation of this study is that the sample consisted entirely of heterosexual older widows from Upstate New York, which limits the transferability of findings to more diverse widow populations and geographic regions. Future research should examine care work, widowhood, embodiment, and physical activity experiences among more racially, culturally, geographically, and relationally diverse populations, including widowers and LGBTQ+ older adults.

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Open Access

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Gerontology Commons

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