首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The Death of a Spouse For much of the world, the death of Richard Nixon was the end of a complex public life. But researchers
The Death of a Spouse For much of the world, the death of Richard Nixon was the end of a complex public life. But researchers
admin
2010-02-20
31
问题
The Death of a Spouse
For much of the world, the death of Richard Nixon was the end of a complex public life. But researchers who study bereavement wondered if it didn’t also signify the end of a private grief. Had the former president merely run his allotted fourscore and one, or had he fallen victim to a pattern that seems to afflict long- time married couples: one spouse quickly following the other to the grave?
Pat, Nixon’s wife of 53 years, died last June after a long illness. No one knows for sure whether her death contributed to his. After all, he was elderly and had a history of serious heart disease. Researchers have long observed that the death of a spouse particularly a wife is sometimes followed by the untimely death of the grieving survivor. Historian Will Durant died 13 days after his wife and collaborator, Ariel; Buckminster Fuller and his wife died just 36 hours apart. Is this more than coincidence?
“Part of the story, I suspect, is that we men are so used to ladies feeding us and taking care of us,” says Knud Helsing, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Public health, “that when we lose a wife we go to pieces. We don’t know how to take care of ourselves.” In one of several studies Helsing has conducted on bereavement, he found that widowed men had higher mortality rates than married men in every age group. But, he found that widowers who remarried enjoyed the same lower mortality rate as men who’d never been widowed.
Women’s health and resilience may also suffer after the loss of a spouse. In a 1987 study of widows, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, and UC, San Diego, found that they had a dramatic decline in levels of important immune - system cells that fight off disease. Earlier studies showed reduced immunity in widowers.
For both men and women, the stress of losing a spouse can have a profound effect. “All sorts of potentially harmful medical problems can be worsened, “says Gerald Davison, professor of psychology at the University of Southern California. People with high blood pressure, for example, may see it rise. In Nixon’s case, Davison speculates, “the stroke, although not caused directly by the stress, was probably hastened by it.” Depression can affect the surviving spouse’s will to live; suicide are elevated in the bereaved, along with accidents not involving cars.
Involvement in life helps prolong it. Mortality, says Duke University psychiatrist Daniel Blazer, is higher in older people without a good social - support - system, who don’t feel they’re part of a group or a family, that they “fit in” somewhere. And that’s a more common problem for men, who tend not to have as many close friendships as women. The sudden absence of routines can also be a health hazard, says Blazer. “A person who loses a spouse shows deterioration in normal habits like sleeping and eating.” he says. “They don’t have that other person to orient them, like when do you go to bed, when do you wake up, when do you eat, when do you take your medication, when do you go out to take a walk.’? Your pattern is no longer locked into someone else’s pattern, so it deteriorates.”
While earlier studies suggested that the first six months to a year - or even the first week -- were times of higher mortality for the bereaved, some newer studies find no special vulnerability in this initial period. Most men and women, of course do not die as a result of the loss of a spouse. And there are ways to improve the odds. A strong sense of separate identity and lack of over dependency during the marriage are helpful. Adult sons and daughters, siblings and friends need to pay special attention to a newly widowed parent. They can make sure that he or she is socializing, getting proper nutrition and medical care, expressing emotion and, above all, feeling needed and appreciated.
Helsing speculates that husbands suffer from the death of a spouse because they are _______.
选项
A、unprepared for independence.
B、incapable of cooking.
C、unwilling to talk.
D、dissatisfied with themselves.
答案
A
解析
参看第二段。“Part of the story,I suspect, is that we men are so used to ladies feeding us and taking care of us,”由此句可看出男性习惯于接受女性的照顾,缺乏生活独立能力,这是主要原因。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/pdvO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
A、Theykeepsomerecordofhistorians’achievements.B、Theybuildmonumentsandwritethestoriesofhistoriansdown.C、Theycon
Thereisevidencetobelievethatgamblinginmanyformshasbeenengagedinforalmostaslongascivilization.Eveninprimiti
Theenergycrunch,whichisbeingfeltaroundtheworld,hasdramatizedhowtherecklessdespoilingoftheearthsresourceshas
Thetraditionaltwo-parentfamilyisfastgivingwayintheAmericaofthe1980stohouseholdsinwhichoneadultmustjuggleth
远古以来,我国各族人民就劳动、生息、繁衍在祖国的土地上。各民族之间建立了紧密的政治经济文化联系,早在两千多年前就形成了幅员广阔的统一国家。悠久的中华文化,成为维系民族团结和国家统一的牢固纽带。我们的先人历来把独立自主视为立国之本。中国作为人类文明
ThemostwidelydiscussedalternativetothetraditionalcampusistheInternetUniversity—avoluntarycommunitytoscholars/tea
A、WhatIlongedforwastobealeader.B、Ididn’tknowifIwassuitabletobealeader.C、Togetintobusinessappealedtome.
A、It’slargelyentertaining.B、It’sgenerallyout-of-date.C、It’smerelyinformative.D、It’sveryoftenbiased.D
A、Beinganentertainer.B、Beingaversatile.C、Beingacelebrity.D、Beinginformative.D
随机试题
自诉
试述中国近代社会的阶级构成和阶级关系的变动。
Mostpeoplehavehadadogorwantedoneastheircompanionatsometimeintheirlives.Ifyouarethinkingofbuyingadog,ho
能疏肝破气、散结消滞的药有
血糖试验的灵敏度是尿糖试验的灵敏度是
霍奇金淋巴瘤与非霍奇金淋巴瘤最具特征性的鉴别点是
患者,男,60岁,身高170cm,体重85kg,患高血压7年多,没有规律服用降压药,血压波动在160~140/100~90mmHg,当头痛、头晕时才服用降压药,症状消失后便停止服药,吸烟35年,每日20支,饮酒30年,每日半斤,近日由于工作劳累,情绪紧张,
建造一个容积为8立方米,深为2米的长方体无盖水池。如果池底和池壁的造价分别为120元/平方米和80元/平方米,那么水池的最低总造价是()元。
根据我国法律规定,下列关于合伙企业的说法,正确的有()。
1938年5月,毛泽东写的《论持久战》初步总结了全国抗战的经验,批驳了当时盛行的种种错误观点,系统阐明了党的抗日持久战方针。毛泽东在《论持久战》中指出,中国抗日战争取得最后胜利的最关键的阶段是
最新回复
(
0
)