This study compared the impact of normative and nonnormative types of death on the surviving family member's quality of life. Bereavement, family typology, level of stress, and level of coping were examined for their ability to explain the surviving family member's quality of life. The theoretical framework included Family Stress Theory, Family Development Theory, and General Systems Theory. / The sample for the study included 149 normative and nonnormative death surviving family members. Subjects responded to a survey containing six instruments and a demographic section. The instruments were the Grief Experience Questionnaire, Family Bonding Index, Family Flexibility Index, Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scale, Impact of Events Scale, and General Contentment Scale. / The study found that the normative group had less intense bereavement experiences, less stress, and better quality of life than family members who survived nonnormative deaths. This investigation also found that males had less intense bereavement experiences, less stress, and better quality of life than did females in the sample. The integration of bereavement, family bonding, family flexibility, level of stress, and level of coping was found to be explanative of the surviving family member's quality of life who had survived a normative or nonnormative type of death. Having combined bereavement, family bonding, family flexibility, level of stress, and level of coping, a path analysis was conducted utilizing both restricted and saturated causal models. These models explained the impact of normative and nonnormative types of death on the surviving family member's quality of life. In a comparison of the models, the nonnormative restricted and saturated causal models were better predictors of the impact of death on surviving family member's quality of life. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-06, Section: A, page: 2121. / Major Professor: Carol Anderson Darling. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76647 |
| Contributors | Legendre, David Alan., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 193 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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