In order to provide the best support possible to grieving youth it is important to understand how bereavement impacts adolescent development and how adolescent development impacts bereavement. In this article, prominent youth bereavement author, David Balk, explores these two key components focusing on cognitive, behavioral, and affective…

The authors used stratified random sampling to assess the prevalence and severity of bereavement in college undergraduates, providing an advance over findings that emerge from convenience sampling methods or from anecdotal observations. Prior research using convenience sampling indicated that 22% to 30% of college students are within 12 months of…

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…

Reviews "On Death without Dignity: The Human Impact of Technological Dying" by David W. Moller. Describes author as well grounded in concepts and theories chosen for analysis. States that the author supports contention that modern society fosters dehumanized dying which obscures death through technological control with little communal support for…

Increased attention is being given to bridging the gap separating thanatology researchers and practitioners. College undergraduates studying to be human service professionals represent a cohort with a significant stake in bridging this gap. Inculcating in college students expectations as well as expertise to use research as practitioners not only…

At any given time, 22 to 30 percent of college undergraduates are in the first twelve months of grieving the death of a family member or friend. This conclusion, startling to some but accepted by others, comes from a variety of sources at academic sites in the United States and Europe. Information about the prevalence rate resulted from clinical…

Two studies were conducted dealing with death and grief in a college student population. In the first study three separate surveys were conducted with undergraduates (N=557) enrolled in an introductory course on human development. In the second study in-depth interviews with undergraduates (N=18) bereaved over the death of a family member or a…

Reviews 1992 book "Spiritual, Ethical, and Pastoral Aspects of Death and Bereavement." Suggests book fills void in literature. Describes text section by section. Cites eclectic nature of articles as strength with section on AIDS-related complex being outdated. Summarizes book as valued addition to literature, encompassing broad topic…

A qualitative, collective case study explores bereavement rituals in the Muscogee Creek tribe. Data from interviews with 27 participants, all adult members of the tribe, revealed consensus on participation in certain bereavement rituals. Common rituals included (a) conducting a wake service the night before burial; (b) never leaving the body alone…

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…

Discusses an ethical dilemma that emerged in a study with bereaved college students. The instruments used to gather data clearly elicited grief-related distress, and more bereaved students in control groups left the study than did participants in social support groups. Three alternatives to a traditional control-group design are discussed for…