The widowhood effect is the increase in the probability of a person dying a relatively short time after their long-time spouse has died. The pattern indicates a sharp increase in risk of death for the widower, particularly but not exclusively, in the three months closest thereafter the death of the spouse.

What is the widower effect Course Hero?

Answer: While the “caregiver burden,” or the health effect on a partner when a spouse becomes ill, and the “widower effect” is the chances a survivor will die after a spouses death; have each been studied separately, the new study is the first to study them together.