The death of a loved one can be particularly difficult for college students, as significant losses are not anticipated during this time. Bereavement experiences are, however, not uncommon among college students, and campus environments can be isolating and nonconducive to recovery. To date, few interventions have been developed to meet bereaved…

This research examined how various members of a social network interact with the Facebook (FB) profile page of a friend who has died. From 43 in-depth qualitative interviews, FB friends of deceased FB users maintained their FB connection with the deceased. Most participants who visited the profile found it helpful to look at pictures; a few wrote…

This study assessed a voluntary sample (n = 123) of college faculty's attitudes toward grieving students and likelihood to provide referrals and course accommodations. Empathy levels of faculty were also measured. Although 91% of faculty indicated that at least 1 student had reported a death, only 36% had referred a student to counseling services.…

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the nascent literature on resilience and suicidality among Black Americans by examining factors that may predict less suicidal behavior among this population. The authors hypothesized that reasons for living, life satisfaction, and religious awareness would account for unique variance in suicidal…

The author argues that the term "recovery" aptly describes the trajectory following the bereavement of most persons. While the term "resilience" has gained ascendancy in the thanatology literature and the term "recovery" has been dismissed as inappropriate to denote responses over time to being bereaved, the irony is that all dictionaries of the…

Fear of dying and death may be universal, but individuals differ in their emotional reactions to dying and death. The present study included a sample of 133 Chinese university students who were Christians. The authors tested a mediation model which posited that intrinsic religiosity, but not extrinsic religiosity, lowered anxiety toward the dying…

Heavy alcohol consumption is prevalent on many college campuses and alcohol use has been linked to suicidal behavior. The present study examined reasons for living in 287 college students with varying levels of risk for alcohol-related problems. With the exception of the moral objections subscale of the Reasons for Living Inventory, significant…

Research has consistently reported that social support from family, friends, and colleagues is an important factor in the bereaved person's ability to cope after the loss of a loved one. This study used a Theory of Planned Behavior framework to identify those factors that predict a person's intention to interact with, and support, a grieving…

Reports on social support group intervention to assist bereaved college students. Discusses structure of the social support intervention in detail and provides extended glimpses into four issues: individual functioning and group process; leader tolerance for emotional intensity; managing ethical conflicts resulting from multiple roles; and…

The purpose of this article is to expand on E. S. Zinner's (1985a) postvention recommendations and, given R. L. Wrenn's (1991a) conclusion that 62% of institutions have not created a postvention plan, describe how to develop a death response team (DRT) to deal with campus fatalities. The basic components of a DRT that are examined include the…

Examined direct and transgenerational effects of traumatic loss on current functioning in college students. As expected, subjects directly affected by traumatic deaths reported more psychological distress, less individuation from parents, and poorer college adjustment than control subjects. Traumatic death apparently disrupts families' ability to…