Widowhood is an experience that typically brings about many changes in the lives of surviving spouses, and the resources available for coping may be limited, particularly for elderly persons. Specific variables which influence the ability of men and women to cope with the changes brought about by widowhood have not been identified completely. No one has examined the extent to which widowed persons are able to manage resources so they can continue performing personal and household functions. It is reasonable to assume that this type of continuity is a necessary foundation for overall adjustment to widowhood.

Empirical data used in this study are from a larger project entitled "Continuity of Household Task Performance During Widowhood", supported by the AARP-Andrus Foundation. The Household Task Performance model was applied to examine gender differences in household task performance before and during widowhood and variables associated with strategy choice for maintenance of continuity of household task performance during widowhood. Respondents to the personal interviews were 173 household heads (38 males and 135 females), aged 60 to 91 years, who had been widowed 5 years or less and lived in Southwest Virginia. Respondents were located using public records and personal referrals.

Widowers received more help than widows. Widowers widowed for longer time periods assumed personal responsibility for fewer tasks than their more recently widowed counterparts. Women widowed for shorter periods performed more of their own tasks than women widowed for a longer time.

Both widows and widowers were maintaining continuity despite the generally lower skill level in household tasks for males Two strategies for maintaining this continuity were identified: (1) use and/or development of the widowed person's own resources, and (2) substitution of the labor of others for the performance of household tasks. Multiple regression analysis identified 5 predictors of household task performance strategy choice: health status, household task performance resources and resource demands, household task performance skills and knowledge, normative expectations for gender role, and initial adjustment difficulty.