This paper examines how households are coping with the AIDS epidemic and is based on data from four studies of six districts in Uganda between 1992 and 1995. Patient care was found to be principally given by the parents and other relatives. A considerable proportion of spouses cared for the male AIDS patients. Orphans were mainly cared for by relatives, especially grandmothers. Upon the death o...

This paper investigates the impact of demographic shocks on optimal decisions about saving, life insurance, and, most centrally, asset allocation. The analysis indicates that marital-status transitions can have important effects on optimal household decisions, particularly in the cases of widowhood and divorce. Children also play a fundamental role in portfolio choice; in addition to leading to...

People’s control over their sexual lives and choices is in turn shaped by gender-related values and norms defining masculinity and femininity. These culturally-defined gender values and norms evolve through a process of socialization starting from an early stage of infancy. They determine and reinforce themselves through traditional practices such as wife sharing, widowhood related rituals, ear...

We assessed prevalence rates of mental disorders in 206 mothers who had experienced the Kosovo war 10 years previously: 100 lone mothers widowed by the war, 71 non-bereaved married mothers, and 35 married mothers bereaved since the war (loss of family other than husband). A total of 96% of widowed lone mothers reported a major depressive episode, an anxiety disorder or a substance use disorder ...

Widowhood forces women to reconstruct their identities. This article discusses how this reconstruction occurs. Interviews were conducted with 65 older widows exploring their experiences: Of those, 81% spoke about identity. This reconstruction can be understood in terms of continuing bonds with the deceased, loosening bonds, and personal growth. Women discussed these transitions in four ways: pe...

Screen images of old lesbians combine modes of representing female gender, lesbian sexuality, and old age, all of which contain layers of otherness within a hetero-patriarchal and youth-centered society. Analyzing a range of films, from independent to mainstream cinema, this article explores how the ghosted lesbian paradigm intersects with narratives of aging as decline in representations of le...

A nationally representative panel study of British households was used to examine the extent to which Big Five personality traits interact with the experience of major life events (marriage, childbirth, unemployment, and widowhood) to predict increases and decreases in life satisfaction following the event. Results show that major life events are associated with changes in life satisfaction, an...