Does widowhood affect social capital in old age: the case of India
PurposeIn India, widowhood, besides, being a personal status, presents itself as a social institution. Widows in India have long been deprived of normal living conditions and their hardships have been generally inconspicuous to policymakers as well as researchers. Therefore, this study is an attempt...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Sociology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2025.1549004/full |
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| author | Akanksha Choudhary Ashish Singh Mohammad Hifz Ur Rahman |
| author_facet | Akanksha Choudhary Ashish Singh Mohammad Hifz Ur Rahman |
| author_sort | Akanksha Choudhary |
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| description | PurposeIn India, widowhood, besides, being a personal status, presents itself as a social institution. Widows in India have long been deprived of normal living conditions and their hardships have been generally inconspicuous to policymakers as well as researchers. Therefore, this study is an attempt to understand the social dynamics of widowhood in India mainly through empirical means. It aims to examine the social capital of old widows through the lens of sociability, safety, and trust and solidarity.MethodsOrdered logistic regressions and Item Response Theory Partial Credit models with data drawn from the SAGE Study on Global Aging and Adult Health which was conducted across six populous states of India have been used for analysis.FindingsResults show that old widows experience significantly lesser sociability, trust and solidarity as compared to their married counterparts. Also, older widows from high income group are less vulnerable and have higher social capital compared to that of older widows from poorer income groups.DiscussionPolicy implications drawn based on the findings can play a vital role in uplifting the life of old widows in India significantly. This study is perhaps the first study to capture how widowhood affects the social capital in old age in India. Besides, based on the findings, we also suggest some policy initiatives to address the concern of low social capital among old widows in India. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-76bbd4b362e34bb4806ae3d6ff134a60 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2297-7775 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Sociology |
| spelling | doaj-art-76bbd4b362e34bb4806ae3d6ff134a602025-08-20T03:45:49ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sociology2297-77752025-06-011010.3389/fsoc.2025.15490041549004Does widowhood affect social capital in old age: the case of IndiaAkanksha Choudhary0Ashish Singh1Mohammad Hifz Ur Rahman2School of Liberal Arts, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, Jodhpur, IndiaSJM School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, IndiaPublic Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, National University of Science and Technology, Sohar, OmanPurposeIn India, widowhood, besides, being a personal status, presents itself as a social institution. Widows in India have long been deprived of normal living conditions and their hardships have been generally inconspicuous to policymakers as well as researchers. Therefore, this study is an attempt to understand the social dynamics of widowhood in India mainly through empirical means. It aims to examine the social capital of old widows through the lens of sociability, safety, and trust and solidarity.MethodsOrdered logistic regressions and Item Response Theory Partial Credit models with data drawn from the SAGE Study on Global Aging and Adult Health which was conducted across six populous states of India have been used for analysis.FindingsResults show that old widows experience significantly lesser sociability, trust and solidarity as compared to their married counterparts. Also, older widows from high income group are less vulnerable and have higher social capital compared to that of older widows from poorer income groups.DiscussionPolicy implications drawn based on the findings can play a vital role in uplifting the life of old widows in India significantly. This study is perhaps the first study to capture how widowhood affects the social capital in old age in India. Besides, based on the findings, we also suggest some policy initiatives to address the concern of low social capital among old widows in India.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2025.1549004/fullwidowhoodwomenold agesocial capitalsociabilityIndia |
| spellingShingle | Akanksha Choudhary Ashish Singh Mohammad Hifz Ur Rahman Does widowhood affect social capital in old age: the case of India Frontiers in Sociology widowhood women old age social capital sociability India |
| title | Does widowhood affect social capital in old age: the case of India |
| title_full | Does widowhood affect social capital in old age: the case of India |
| title_fullStr | Does widowhood affect social capital in old age: the case of India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does widowhood affect social capital in old age: the case of India |
| title_short | Does widowhood affect social capital in old age: the case of India |
| title_sort | does widowhood affect social capital in old age the case of india |
| topic | widowhood women old age social capital sociability India |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2025.1549004/full |
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