Date of Award

8-22-2025

Date Published

September 2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Social Science

Advisor(s)

Janet Wilmoth

Keywords

Depression;Health;Intergenerational relationships;Psychological well-being;Social support;Widowhood

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on Korean older adults and their experiences with widowhood and health issues in later life. Specifically, it examines the associations between stressful life events, such as recent widowhood and poor health, and depressive symptoms. It then further explores if intergenerational relationships and social support mediate the distressing consequences of these stressful life events. Using longitudinal data from 2006 to 2020 Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, this study estimates residualized change Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models predicting depression at Tw as a function of depression at Tw-1 and other covariates among individuals who are 60 or older with at least one child. This analysis extends literature on aging in Korea by examining the full sample then stratifying the models by gender and residential proximity before focusing on the non-coresidential subgroup sample. In addition, it distinguishes between recent (less than 2 years), medium-term (2-4 years), and long-term (more than 4 years) widows, as well as employing a more detailed child composition measure. To assess changes and evaluate the correlates of change, I estimated hierarchical models of depression using a measure based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Results indicate that poor health and recent widowhood are, individually and together, positively related to depressive symptoms and interact to produce higher CES-D scores. Satisfactory intergenerational relationships and social support decrease depressive symptoms of older parents. In particular, providing more grandchild care and living close to children are associated with significantly lower depressive symptoms for women. Among those living far from children, receiving more parental caregiving is associated with significantly lower depressive symptoms. For non-coresidential parents, more frequent contact with children is associated with significantly lower depressive symptoms for men and especially women, while providing more money transfers to children is associated with significantly higher depressive symptoms for men. Among those living far from children, receiving more parental caregiving and more frequent contact with children are associated with significantly lower depressive symptoms, while providing more money transfers to children is associated with significantly higher depressive symptoms. Recent widowhood is harder for women at the beginning, but men experience constant depression whereas women’s psychological health improves after about 2 years of bereavement. This suggests women’s bereavement coping strategies are better than men’s. When intergenerational relationship and social support are added in the more fully specified model, medium-term widowed women have a lower risk of depression, while recent widowhood is associated with a higher risk of depression for both men and women. When poor health is co-occurring with recent widowhood, women and men both experience depressive symptoms. Controlling for intergenerational relationship and social support in the final models did not have much impact on the size of the health coefficients for both men and women, although the four health factors (subjective health, cognitive limitation, functional limitations, and chronic illnesses) significantly affect depression at T2 for both groups. Also, having a child living closer (less than 1 hour by public transportation) is beneficial. Moderate distance (between 1 and 2 hours) is not the best arrangement for older adults; rather they are better off if they live far (more than 2 hours) than living in a moderate distance. Having more than two children in mixed gender positively impacts the psychological well-being of older adults among those living close to children, especially for women. Although Korean older women tend to prefer a daughter, among those who have one child, depressive symptoms are lower if they have a son than if they have a daughter. I conclude that the psychological benefits of intergenerational relationships and social support are contingent upon the vulnerability of Korean older adults and discuss the implications for public policy.

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