Trauma is thought to interfere with normal grief by superimposing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. This exploratory pilot study examined the association between traumatic grief and objectively measured physiological reactivity to a trauma interview in 13 children who lost relatives in the Oklahoma City bombing as well as a potential link…

Research has examined the relationship of styles of attachment to others and meaning with grief and the stress-related growth process. Less has been written on styles of attachment to God and patterns of religious coping and how these constructs may impact adjustment in persons dealing with loss. This study examines the roles of attachment to God,…

This study aimed to examine the validity of reasons for living (RFL) and the protective role they may play against suicidal ideation in college students in South Korea. A total of 277 undergraduate students participated by completing the College Student Reasons for Living Inventory (CS-RFL), along with measures of suicide risk including…

Several studies have shown that the symptoms of grief are different from symptoms of depression among bereaved family members. This study is an attempt to replicate this finding among advanced cancer patients and examine clinical correlates of patient grief and depression. Analyses were conducted on data from interviews with 123 advanced cancer…

This study identifies grief management strategies that bereaved adults evaluate as more and less helpful, assesses whether the person centeredness of these strategies explains their helpfulness, and determines whether strategy helpfulness varies as a function of demographic, personality, and situational factors. Participants (105 bereaved young…

The study examines the relation of death experience to death attitudes and to autobiographical memory use. Participants (N = 52) completed standard death attitude measures and wrote narratives about a death-related autobiographical memory and (for comparison) a memory of a low point. Self-ratings of the memory narratives were used to assess their…

Previous research suggests that caregivers and terminally ill patients face substantial difficulties discussing illness and death. Existing research, however, has focused primarily on the experience of patients. The current study compared responses as well as the relative strength of association between mortality communication, fear of death, and…

A longitudinal study was conducted among bereaved parents to examine the relationship between the circumstances surrounding the death of their child and psychological adjustment. Two hundred nineteen couples participated at 6, 13, and 20 months post-loss. Examination was made of two categories of factors: those that were determined by the…

Severe grief symptoms, treatment receptivity, attitudes about grief, and stigmatization concerns were assessed in a community-based sample of 135 widowed participants in the Yale Bereavement Study. There was a statistically significant association between the severity of grief symptoms and reported negative reactions from friends and family…

This study evaluated the construct of childhood traumatic grief (CTG) and its correlates through a multi-site assessment of 132 bereaved children and adolescents. Youth completed a new measure of the characteristics, attributions, and reactions to exposure to death (CARED), as well as measures of CTG, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),…

Conceptualizing parental grief as a psychosocial transition, this cross-sectional study of bereaved mothers (N = 35) examined the relationship of dispositional factors, grief reactions, and personal growth. More optimistic mothers reported less intense grief reactions and less distress indicative of complicated grief. Additionally, mothers who…

The study surveyed 135 health care professionals (74 nurses, 32 physicians, and 29 social workers) to examine their personal death attitudes and experiences in relation to their reported advance directive communication practice behavior. Negative correlations were found between collaborating with other health care professionals regarding the…

This article considers the implications of suicide and violent deaths (including suicide, homicide, and accidents) for the development of interventions for parentally bereaved children. Analyses of data from the Family Bereavement Program find minimal differences in children's mental health problems, grief or risk and protective factors based on…