With few exceptions, greater disparities in mortality risk by socio-economic status (SES) have been found among men than among women. Most research has also shown that the higher mortality risk after widowhood (the widowhood effect) is greater for men. However, a different picture appears when examining these associations jointly. Based on Swedish register data, this study shows that widowhood weakens, or even reverses, the sex differences in socio-economic disparities in mortality. The overall findings also indicate that higher SES elevates the widowhood effect for men but diminishes it for women, and that the widowhood effect is greater for women than men in the lowest SES categories. These results imply that men with higher SES are more vulnerable after widowhood, perhaps because of their previous relatively privileged situation. The disadvantage of widows in lower SES categories may reflect exposure to financial strains after spousal loss and inequalities in the healthcare system.

除了少数例外，男性的死亡风险与社会经济地位 (SES) 的差异大于女性。大多数研究还表明，丧偶后的死亡风险（丧偶效应）对男性来说更大。然而，当联合检查这些关联时，会出现不同的画面。根据瑞典的登记数据，这项研究表明，丧偶会削弱甚至逆转死亡率中社会经济差异的性别差异。总体研究结果还表明，较高的 SES 提高了男性的守寡效应，但降低了女性的寡妇效应，并且在 SES 最低的类别中，女性的守寡效应大于男性。这些结果表明，具有较高 SES 的男性在丧偶后更容易受到伤害，这可能是因为他们之前的相对特权地位。