Widows were assessed on four measures relating to recovery from bereavement: postformal thinking (measured as dialectical thinking), recovery from grief (measured as past feelings and present feelings), well-being (measured by three subscales: autonomy, environmental mastery, and positive relations with others), and age at time of participation. Eighty participants completed and returned questionnaires. It was hypothesized that age of the participant and the development of postformal thinking would predict higher scores on recovery from grief and well-being. Analysis was performed using a Structural Equation Model with a comparative fit index (CFI) of .98. Results showed that age and postformal thinking did not predict recovery from grief or higher well-being scores. In addition no correlation was found between later age and postformal thinking, although there was a correlation between scores on recovery from grief and scores on well-being.

The importance of individual differences in psychological responses to loss and potential trauma is well-established, yet previous approaches have been limited in capturing and explaining the full scope of variation. The present studies expanded on this line of research to elucidate key aspects of the risk and protective processes that influence psychological adaptation to loss and trauma. The first set of studies examined the influence of emotion regulation choice sensitivity on the relationship between potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans and nonveterans. In the veteran sample, choice sensitivity was found to be a moderator that reduced the impact of PTE exposure on PTSD symptoms. Choice sensitivity similarly functioned as a moderator in the nonveteran sample, however the effects were contingent on both the type of PTE exposure and the outcomes associated with implementation of the selected regulation strategies. The second set of studies investigated risk and protective factors in the face of spousal loss. Random-intercept cross-lagged panel modeling was employed to examine and clarify the nature of the relationships between key factors and depression across an 8-year period. Factors included optimism, sense of control, religiosity, and social support while the primary bereavement outcome was depression symptoms. Distinct patterns of risk and protective processes were identified in relation to all factors that involved clearly differentiable stable, between-subjects effects and time-varying, within-subjects effects. The third set of studies addressed whether resilience would extend across multiple domains of positive adjustment in the context of spinal cord injury, bereavement, and heart attack. Relationships between symptom-based trajectories of resilience and positive adjustment in psychological, social, and health-related domains were examined. Individuals who exhibited trajectories of resilience in relation to depression symptoms simultaneously experienced better positive adjustment, functioning, and health in areas that included quality of life, perceived manageability, anxiety, self-esteem, social integration, cognition, and body mass index.

August Diamond is left lost after the sudden death of her father. The stories in Dance Lessons explore the themes of loss and grief, retreat and return, and finding your true self. The collection is a novel in stories, each story exposing another layer of August's past, her family, and their complicated relationships.

Increasing rates of adolescent homicide, suicide, and AIDS have forced researchers to relinquish comforting beliefs about youth and vitality, and to accept the reality of adolescent death. Previous studies of bereavement have given precedence to parental and fraternal relations, and peers of deceased adolescents have gone largely unnoticed. What literature exists in the area of peer bereavement suggests that the process of mourning a peer closely parallels the process of mourning a sibling. The present study set forth to study empirically the cognitive, behavioral, and affective responses of adolescents to the death of a peer, and to determine possible mediators of bereavement reactions. Fifty undergraduates who had recently lost a peer (bereaved) and 52 controls (nonbereaved) were compared on a series of objective measures. Beliefs about the meaningfulness of the world, self-worth, and morality emerged as important variables in distinguishing between bereaved and nonbereaved samples. Further, satisfaction with an available social support network, and locus of control appeared as significant variables, accounting for differences in grief responses of the bereaved. Results are discussed within a developmental framework. / Master of Science

When a romantic relationship ends in dissolution, the ex-partners may experience distress similar to post-traumatic stress or complex grief (i.e., dysphoric mood, feelings of loss, intrusive memories, negative rumination regarding the relationship, and a loss of self-esteem). Interventions designed to reduce post-breakup distress have historically attempted to foster integration of the breakup into the self-narrative through techniques such as expressive writing. Recent research indicates centrality, or heightened integration of an event or concept into an individual’s identity, predicts heightened levels of distress in the case of negative life events, including romantic relationship dissolution. Given the role romantic relationships themselves play in identity formation, exploration is warranted of the potential distress resulting from over-identification with a romantic relationship itself, or relationship centrality, after a breakup has occurred. Furthermore, if an individual has overly-integrated a relationship into their identity, the effectiveness of interventions focusing on further integration of the breakup is called into question. This study explored the centrality of participants’ previous romantic relationships, the distress resulting from the dissolution of those relationships, and the role of expressive writing as a distress reduction tool when centrality is taken into account.

The purpose of the present cross-sectional study was to examine the effects of ambiguity of loss and type of caregiver-to-patient relationship on anticipatory grief, negative physical and psychological outcomes associated with grief, and boundary ambiguity in family caregivers of chronically ill patients. Questionnaires were completed by 23 parents of ill children and 30 spouses of ill mates. Using an original and a revised concept for level of ambiguity, partial support was found for the prediction that parents and spouses in high ambiguity of loss circumstances would report more anticipatory grief than those in low ambiguity ones. Contrary to prediction, a slight but nonsignificant trend occurred for parents and spouses in low ambiguity situations to report more negative physical and psychological effects associated with grief as well. Level of ambiguity was not found to impact boundary ambiguity as had been hypothesized. Spouses reported more boundary ambiguity than parents, regardless of level of ambiguity of the loss. Contrary to prediction that parents would report less anticipatory grief and more negative physical and psychological outcomes than spouses, generally, no significant differences were found between the two groups. However, using the original concept of ambiguity, parents did tend to recall more past grief than spouses. The study highlighted several methodological concerns which impact research on loss and grief, particularly the difficulty involved in recruiting participants with subsequent occurrence of sampling bias, rudimentary status of available measurement tools, and a host of potentially confounding personal and sociodemographic variables. The present study supports a view of the loss which occurs in families dealing with chronic illness as a complex process whose impact on grief, distress, and family upheaval is influenced by multiple factors. Such factors include both the ambiguity of the loss and the type of family relationship involved. Complex research of a longitudinal nature using psychosocial models of illness is needed to better delineate the impact of factors such as these.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-11-14T14:42:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Natasha Torlay Parente.pdf: 3461866 bytes, checksum: ea2597f6af5a9ae0fbd7b4976fdd3cde (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-14T14:42:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Natasha Torlay Parente.pdf: 3461866 bytes, checksum: ea2597f6af5a9ae0fbd7b4976fdd3cde (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-11-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This study sought to verify the influence of spiritual/religious coping (SRC) on the quality of life of a father and/or mother who has lost a child by external causes. It is a cross-sectional, quantitative and qualitative study. Participants were invited to collaborate voluntarily and after agreeing, they answered the questionnaires Spiritual Religious Coping Scale Brief (SRCOPE brief Scale), WHOQOL Spirituality Religiousness and Personal Beliefs, and the Duke Religious Index, DUREL. The population was composed by forty participants, constituted equally by twenty mothers and twenty fathers, who lost the child by external causes, with more than three months of time of the loss. The cause of death by homicide, represents 67.5%, traffic accident composes 15%, tragedy of Kiss Nightclub constitutes 12.5%, suicide evidences 2.45%, as well as and 2.45% for lost bullet. Fathers and mothers present high frequency of IR, as well as RO and RNO. Fathers and mothers aged 29 to 44 years have a higher religiosity than those aged over 44 years. Fathers manifest a higher Positive SRC (PSRC) Offer of Help (p = 0.0001), Positive attitude towards God (p = 0.0005) and lower Negative SRC (NSRC) (p = 0.007) than mothers. No correlation was found between quality of life, religious frequency and SRC. The qualitative results revealed that mothers have greater difficulty in dealing with loss, according to Stroebe and Shut (1999; 2001), Rando (1997), Schatz (1997); There was a marked presence of illusions related to the departed child, considered expressions of continuous bonds. The positive SRC (PSRC) was highlighted in the narrative of fathers and mothers, used as a resource to serve others, through volunteering and/or building prosocial institutions, to be beneficial for well-being as well as in the construction of meaning and in the search for purpose in life / Este estudo buscou verificar a influência do coping religioso-espiritual (CRE) na qualidade de vida de um pai e/ou de uma mãe que perderam um filho por causas externas. Trata-se de um estudo transversal, quantitativo e qualitativo. Os participantes deste estudo foram convidados a colaborar voluntariamente e, após concordarem, responderam aos questionários: Escala de Coping Religioso-Espiritual Abreviada (Escala CRE-abreviada), WHOQOL Spirituality Religiousness and Personal Beliefs e a Escala de Religiosidade de Duke (DUREL). A população foi composta por 40 participantes, constituída igualitariamente por vinte mães e vinte pais, que perderam o filho por causas externas, com mais de três meses de tempo da perda. A morte por homicídio representa 67,5%, por acidente de trânsito compõe 15%, na tragédia da Boate Kiss constitui 12,5%, por suicídio evidencia 2,45% e, por bala perdida, 2,45%. Pais e mães, apresentam alta frequência de RI, assim como de RO e RNO. Pais e mães de 29 a 44 anos têm maior religiosidade do que aqueles com idade superior a 44 anos. Os pais evidenciaram maior CRE Positivo (CREP) de Oferta de Ajuda (p=0,0001), Posição Positiva Frente a Deus (p=0,0005) e menor CRE Negativo (CREN) (p=0,007) do que as mães. Não foi encontrada correlação entre qualidade de vida, religiosidade e CRE. Os resultados qualitativos revelaram que mães tem maior dificuldade em lidar com a perda, conforme apontam Stroebe e Shut (1999; 2001), Rando (1997), Schatz (1997); houve uma acentuada presença de ilusões relacionadas à criança que partiu, consideradas expressões de vínculos contínuos. O CRE Positivo (CREP) se destacou nos relatos de pais e mães, utilizado como recurso para servir ao outro por meio de voluntariado e/ou na formação de instituições pró-sociais, evidenciando benefícios para o bem-estar, assim como na construção de significado e busca de sentido da vida

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1999. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1999. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

A review of the literature on adjustment to widowhood and survivorship reveals gaps in qualitative and quantitative studies which explore anticipatory processes for this expectable life event. Studies focusing on men anticipating this time of life are rare to non-existent. This is a qualitative study on the anticipatory processes (cognitive, emotional and behavioral) of individuals and couples. The theoretical underpinnings for the study are drawn from symbolic interactionist ideas of how individuals settle on a personal and functional reality and from the ideas of Peter Berger and his associates on how the marital conversation stabilizes the individual's sense of the world. Fourteen long-married couples ages 50 to 80 were interviewed. They are Caucasian, middle and upper-middle class people, married from 29 to 49 years. The first part of the study examines the following: whether people have a prediction relative to which of the couple will probably die first; whether members of the couple hold the same prediction; what factors inform such a prediction, and how much discussion there is of this topic. It was found that about one-half of the informants have a stable prediction and that three couples held the same view. Three typologies, the CLEARS, those IN PROCESS and the VAGUES, were used to describe the prediction behavior of the 28 participants. Among the seven factors highlighted were the sense of one's genetic inheritance, belief in the “common wisdom" that husbands pre-decease their wives, and observations of one's own energy level relative to one's partner. The second part of the study explores the worries and concerns of men and women as they look forward to a time without the life partner. The study uncovers the actions they take at present and actions they believe they would take in the future to best perform daily routines and to deal with emotional and relationship needs. It was found that the men and women envision their futures differently, that men anticipate the likelihood of remarriage and tend to see remarriage as a pleasant coping strategy. Women show a disinclination to remarry emphasizing the trade-offs of marriage. Their strategies are more varied, and are more likely to be based on observations of widowed women throughout their lives. Finally, the participants' religious and philosophical attitudes, broad enough to encompass death and loneliness, are noted. / Ph. D.