Of particular importance are the experiences of aging adults, who receive less social control as they age (Tucker et al. 2004). This occurs, in part, because of loss (i.e., death) and change in social ties at older ages (Williams 2004). Widowhood results in a loss of social control from one’s spouse, but recent work shows that the decline in health that typically follows widowhood does not occur when other social ties step up to provide social control that influences health habits of the widowed (Williams 2004).
