This study examined the effect of the experience of a loss on alcohol use and drinking motives in a college sample. Participants for this study were drawn from the “Spit for Science” project (Dick et al., 2014). The sample included 3,013 students (31.8% men, 68.2% women; 44.3% White, 21.1% Black, 19.6% Asian, 6.0% Latinx; mean age = 18.96; 16.2% bereaved) from Virginia Commonwealth University. Data were collected from participants’ freshman spring and sophomore spring time points on the Life Events Checklist, Alcohol Consumption items, and Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised. Participants who were bereaved between the freshman and sophomore timepoint did not significantly differ in their alcohol consumption, coping drinking motives, or conformity drinking motives compared to their non-bereaved counterparts. Limitations and future directions for research are reviewed.

Thesis (M.A. (English Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / This dissertation discusses the significance of the concept of mourning in post-apartheid South Africa as presented in the following selected post-apartheid South African literary texts: Ways of dying, a novel by Zakes Mda; Nothing but the truth, a play by John Kani and Freedom lament and song, a poem by Mongane Wally Serote. The dissertation interrogates the legitimacy of the prefix ‘post’ in ‘post-apartheid’ as a point of departure. It discusses the theories of key thinkers on the concept mourning and then applies their theories to the analysis of the selected literary texts thereby interpreting the selected literary texts as symbolic codes communicating messages about the state of politics in post-apartheid South Africa. 5

One of the most powerful and life-changing events that can occur in the life of a family is the death of a child. Researchers who have studied death and bereavement suggest that a child's death has a dramatic impact on parents. However, little is known about the ways in which child loss influences a parent's sense of identity and subsequent parental behavior. The purpose of this study was to explore how the life event of having a child die affects parents in their sense of identity and behavior as a mother or father. It was also to search for common patterns and themes in parental accounts of a child's death that provide a better understanding of this topic. Individual mothers and fathers were interviewed and asked about their experience in losing a child, and how this experience shaped their feelings of identity and parental behavior in relation to both the deceased child and their other children. Nineteen mothers and fathers who had children die as a result of accidental causes or illness were interviewed. Interview transcripts were qualitatively analyzed for content. Findings were broken into four primary categories: (a) parental experience in the context of loss; (b) impact of a child's death on parental identity; (c) parental behavior in relation to the deceased child; and (d) parental behavior in relation to surviving children. The findings provided support to the idea that a child's death has a significant impact on parental identity and a parent's subsequent behavior. The findings demonstrated that how a child dies is a critical factor in how parents experience the loss. The findings related to parental identity show that parents struggle with their sense of competence, mourn the lost parent-child bond, and feel a loss of parental hopes for the future. The findings about parental behavior in relation to the deceased child suggest that connecting with and remembering the child in diverse ways are fundamental aspects of parental behavior after a child's death. The findings also show that a child's death shapes surviving parent-child relationships as parents mediate the loss experience for children, become more protective, and increase their parental efforts in behalf of children. / Graduation date: 2000

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1983. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [197]-213.

The study explores the experience of individuals who have lost a number of close people in their life, through death, over the course of their adult lifetime. Twelve individual interviews (11 women, 1 man) are presented in narrative form and explored for their content and meaning. The experience of multiple loss was revealed to be unique and varied for each participant and each loss was experienced independently from the others, concomitant on the relationship to the deceased, the nature and timing of the death and the relevance to the participant’s identity. Similar themes occurred across and within cases that are attributable to having lost a number of close others. Common effects were seen in participants’ experiential knowledge of grief and its vicissitudes, death and its processes, and life and its meaningfulness. Participants believed that their losses have had a profound effect on them, changing their lives immutably. Changes were perceived in terms of impact on the way they view the world, themselves and their relationships. Individuals perceived both positive and negative effects. Analogous with current research and theories in the field many of the participants reported experiencing personal growth as a result of their losses. The present study extends past research findings by attributing these effects to the accumulation of losses. A model for understanding the process of meaning-making in multiple loss was devised. Respondents were apt to process one death at a time, incorporate its meanings and effects on them, compare the effects to each other by contrasting the distinct experiences, and create a framework for meaning that was mutable. There were typical features of these meanings that were characteristic to the tone of the narrative. Stories of multiple loss tended to have an unresolved, a transformational or a growth related tone. An enhanced model of meaning- making in loss is described that augments current models of meaning-making in coping with loss. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.

The study explores the experience of individuals who have lost a number of close people in their life, through death, over the course of their adult lifetime. Twelve individual interviews (11 women, 1 man) are presented in narrative form and explored for their content and meaning. The experience of multiple loss was revealed to be unique and varied for each participant and each loss was experienced independently from the others, concomitant on the relationship to the deceased, the nature and timing of the death and the relevance to the participant’s identity. Similar themes occurred across and within cases that are attributable to having lost a number of close others. Common effects were seen in participants’ experiential knowledge of grief and its vicissitudes, death and its processes, and life and its meaningfulness. Participants believed that their losses have had a profound effect on them, changing their lives immutably. Changes were perceived in terms of impact on the way they view the world, themselves and their relationships. Individuals perceived both positive and negative effects. Analogous with current research and theories in the field many of the participants reported experiencing personal growth as a result of their losses. The present study extends past research findings by attributing these effects to the accumulation of losses. A model for understanding the process of meaning-making in multiple loss was devised. Respondents were apt to process one death at a time, incorporate its meanings and effects on them, compare the effects to each other by contrasting the distinct experiences, and create a framework for meaning that was mutable. There were typical features of these meanings that were characteristic to the tone of the narrative. Stories of multiple loss tended to have an unresolved, a transformational or a growth related tone. An enhanced model of meaning- making in loss is described that augments current models of meaning-making in coping with loss. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.

Although significant growth has occurred in some areas of the grief and bereavement literature, little attention has been paid to the phenomenon of adult child loss from the perspective of parents. Simultaneously, there have been mounting challenges to the traditional grief work hypothesis, which translates 'detachment' as healthy grieving, by proponents of the 'continuing bond' model. While the notion of an ongoing connection with the deceased seems to more accurately describe the experience of bereaved parents, there has been minimal research to explore evidence for this. The intent of this qualitative study was to examine the written and spoken discourse of parents bereaved of adult children in an effort to understand the ways that language is used to give account to that experience and to discern something of the nature of the parent-adult child relationship in death. A discourse analytic approach (Potter & Wetherell, 1987) was taken in order to understand more specifically the function, structure, and variability of written and spoken accounts of bereaved parents. Discourse was collected from diverse sources, including solicited written submissions, face-to-face interviews, published writings and Internet chat between bereaved parents. The findings revealed a range of discursive devices and practices available to participants, through which they achieved reconstructions of their deceased adult children, their relationships with their children, and their experiences of parental bereavement. The most prominent result was the discovery of the use of extreme case formulations (Pomerantz, 1986) by bereaved parents. This particular discursive device had only previously been identified in contexts of conflict. Additionally, participants used categorization, detailed description, characterization, comparison, contrast, paradox, evidence-building, and metaphor as discursive strategies and devices. The social actions performed in the process included: constructing/reconstructing, convincing, remembering, evaluating, describing, and demonstrating parental investment. The discursive content ranged from talk of how special the child was, to the constancy of thoughts about the deceased child. There was also discursive evidence in support of the of 'continuing bonds' model. This study promises to inform the literature on parental bereavement as well as to widen the field of discursive psychology to now include research in grief and loss.

Att förlora sitt barn är den svåraste förlust en förälder kan uppleva i livet. Sorgen blir påtaglig och livet raseras på ett ögonblick. Syftet med studien var att beskriva föräldrarnas upplevelse under sorgarbetet vid förlusten av ett barn. Metoden som användes var en litteraturstudie med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet sammanställdes utifrån åtta vetenskapliga artiklar som svarade på studiens syfte. I resultatet framkom att föräldrarna upplever en djup och smärtsam sorg efter förlusten av sitt barn. Sorgarbetet tar lång tid för föräldrarna, deras sorgreaktioner kan variera mycket och sorgen är mycket individuell. Det är viktigt för föräldrarna att familj och vänner vågar vara nära genom sorgarbetet och föräldrarna upplever ett stort behov av att tala om sitt förlorade barn. Föräldrars relation och hälsa kan påverkas temporärt eller permanent under sorgarbetet eller förbli oförändrad. Trots den svåra sorgen lärde sig de flesta föräldrarna att uppskatta och njuta av livet igen. Studien riktas främst till sjuksköterskor men kan även tillämpas av andra som kommer i kontakt med sörjande föräldrar.

<p>Att förlora sitt barn är den svåraste förlust en förälder kan uppleva i livet. Sorgen blir påtaglig och livet raseras på ett ögonblick. Syftet med studien var att beskriva föräldrarnas upplevelse under sorgarbetet vid förlusten av ett barn. Metoden som användes var en litteraturstudie med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet sammanställdes utifrån åtta vetenskapliga artiklar som svarade på studiens syfte. I resultatet framkom att föräldrarna upplever en djup och smärtsam sorg efter förlusten av sitt barn. Sorgarbetet tar lång tid för föräldrarna, deras sorgreaktioner kan variera mycket och sorgen är mycket individuell. Det är viktigt för föräldrarna att familj och vänner vågar vara nära genom sorgarbetet och föräldrarna upplever ett stort behov av att tala om sitt förlorade barn. Föräldrars relation och hälsa kan påverkas temporärt eller permanent under sorgarbetet eller förbli oförändrad. Trots den svåra sorgen lärde sig de flesta föräldrarna att uppskatta och njuta av livet igen. Studien riktas främst till sjuksköterskor men kan även tillämpas av andra som kommer i kontakt med sörjande föräldrar.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 348-360). Also available on the Internet.