Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics, Changing Lives of Older Couples Study, 1987–93

	Wave 1: 6-month follow-up			Wave 2: 18-month follow-up
	Widowed	Married		Widowed	Married
	(N=188)	(N=78)		(N=160)	(N=178)
	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)	T-test or X2	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)	T-test or X2
Dependent variable
Ambivalence, W1 or W2	− 0.05 (1.13)	0.38 (1.22)	2.69**	0.13 (1.34)	0.28 (1.21)	1.10
Independent variables
Baseline measures of ambivalence	.58 (1.29)	.62 (1.28)	0.22	0.52 (1.21)	0.50 (1.19)	− 0.16
Pre-loss marital context
Marital quality, BL	−0.10 (1.11)	0.01 (0.95)	0.78	−0.19 (1.17)	−0.09 (0.95)	0.87
Spouse’s health, BL (1=poor health)	0.59	0.30	18.97***	0.60	0.35	25.53***
Sociodemographic and health characteristics
Sex (1=female)	0.71	0.74	0.36	0.70	0.70	0.01
Race (1=white)	0.87	0.85	0.32	0.88	0.84	1.05
Age, BL	70.24 (6.95)	68.98 (6.03)	− 1.49	70.12 (6.87)	70.37 (6.79)	0.34
Education (in years)	11.35 (2.85)	11.67 (2.88)	0.85	11.42 (2.70)	12 (3.05)	1.85
Depression, BL	0.14 (1.05)	0.02 (1.11)	− 0.83	0.13 (1.05)	−0.09 (0.87)	− 2.09*
Functional difficulty, BL	−0.16 (0.75)	−0.10 (0.92)	0.55	−0.14 (0.80)	0.12 (1.10)	2.48*
Months between BL and W1 (W2) Interviews	36.88 (18.33)	59.64 (8.54)	13.81***	42.17 (14.00)	46.79 (14.60)	2.97**
Perceived intergenerational dependence
Parents’ dependence on children, W1 or W2	0.62 (1.19)	0.02 (0.92)	− 4.43***	0.32 (1.14)	0.07 (1.05)	− 2.08*
Children’s dependence on parents, W1 or W2	−0.42 (0.89)	−0.15 (0.89)	2.23*	−0.32 (0.92)	−0.19 (0.97)	1.30

Note: Two-tailed t-tests were used to assess significant differences between means. Chi-square tests were used to assess significant differences in proportions. N’s are weighted. BL refers to baseline; W1 refers to Wave 1 (6-month follow-up); W2 refers to Wave 2 (18-month follow-up).

^*p < .05;

^**p < .01;

^***p < .001 (2-tailed)