SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Aging Psychiatry
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1612813
Research Trends and Hotspots in the Mental Health of Widowed Older Adults: A Bibliometric Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
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The mental health of widowed older adults has garnered increasing research attention due to its profound impact on well-being and quality of life. Despite growing scholarly interest, a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of evolving research trends, key topics, and knowledge structures remains scarce. This study aims to identify key research themes, emerging trends, and interdisciplinary linkages to inform future studies on the mental health of widowed older adults.Methods: A bibliometric analysis was conducted using data from the Web of Science Core Col-lection (2004Col-lection ( -2024)). CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and the R package "Bibliometrix""Bibliometrix" package in R were utilized to visualize publication trends, country and author collaborations, keyword cooccurrences, theme analysis, and emerging research topics.Results: A total of 891 articles were analyzed. The United States produced the highest number of publications, followed by China and the United Kingdom, with the United States, England, and Canada exhibiting strong research collaborations. Depression, loneliness, cognitive function, and socioeconomic factors were identified as core research themes, while life satisfaction and social support emerged as growing areas of interest. Burst analysis indicated increasing attention to grief, life course perspectives, and mental disorders in recent years. prevalence and mental health were identified as core research themes, while life satisfaction and social support emerged as growing areas of interest. Citation burst and thematic evolution analyses revealed shifting scholarly interest from clinical and diagnostic concerns towards psychosocial adaptation and person-centered approaches over time. Conclusion: This bibliometric scientometric study systematically maps the research landscape, hotspots, and emerging trends in the mental health of widowed older adults over the past two decades. The findings provide valuable insights for researchers seeking to identify key re-search directions, foster interdisciplinary collaborations, and develop targeted interventions to support the mental wellbeing of widowed older adults.
Keywords: Widowhood, Mental Health, bibliometric analysis, older adults, Citespace, VOSviewer
Received: 04 May 2025; Accepted: 09 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lin, Wu, Chen, Shen, Cai, Wang, Fu, Li and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Weibing Chen, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Xiangying Shen, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
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