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• Posted July 16, 2025

Loneliness Of Widowhood Isn't Diminished By Presence Of Adult Children, Study Says

Adult children aren’t likely to fill the void left by the loss of a spouse, a new study says.

Becoming widowed might cause a stronger bond between the remaining parent and their children, but these bonds don’t appear to ease the loneliness left by loss, researchers reported July 14 in Aging & Mental Health.

These findings contradict the common notion that widowed people with children are less lonely than those who are childless, researchers said.

“Widowhood is linked to persistent increases in loneliness. It also fosters stronger parent-child relationships, particularly for mothers, who often act as kin-keepers within the family,” lead investigator Maximilian Tolkamp, a research associate at the University of Siegen in Germany, said in a news release.

“However, while widowhood appears to strengthen certain aspects of the parent-child relationship, these improvements do not mitigate increases in either social or emotional loneliness,” Tolkamp added.

These findings are based on interviews with more than 5,600 married people with adult children taking part in a German aging study, of whom 475 lost their spouse.

The death of a spouse is one of life’s most stressful events, and it can contribute to health problems like heart conditions as well as mental health problems like depression or chronic loneliness, researchers said in background notes.

People were asked a series of questions related to their emotional and mental health, as well as their connections to adult children.

Results indicated that loneliness rises significantly following a spouse’s death and persists for a long time, even if adult children maintain frequent contact.

The worst time was the three years after losing a spouse, although loneliness continued to be a factor up to seven years following their death, researchers said.

“These findings were surprising to us, as prior research has shown that the well-being of older parents is strongly influenced by the quality of their relationships with adult children,” senior researcher Matthias Pollmann-Schult, a professor at the University of Siegen, said in a news release.

“It appears, however, that the impact of spousal loss is too profound to be substantially alleviated by even strong emotional and social support from one’s children,” Pollmann-Schult added.

However, researchers noted that the study did not include how relationships with other people, including close friends or casual acquaintances, might affect a person’s loneliness.

Interactions with non-relatives might have “greater impact on levels of social loneliness than interactions with one’s children,” researchers wrote.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the health effects of loneliness.

SOURCES: University of Siegen, news release, July 15, 2025; Aging & Mental Health, July 15, 2025