Tomarken,
Alexis (9/09) Prolonged grief and resilience in young bereaved spouses and
partners (Gary Kose, Ph.D.; Rhiannon Allen, Ph.D.; Paul Michael Ramirez, Ph.D.;
Christian Nelson, Ph.D.).
In normal grief, bereaved individuals
begin to accept the reality of the loss, see the future as hopeful for
satisfying experiences, and are able to begin meaningful work and activities
approximately six months after the loss. However, prior research estimates that
between 10-20% of bereaved survivors experience a state of prolonged grief,
characterized by unrelenting and unmediated grief that can persist for years.
Importantly, prolonged grief has been found to be associated with physical and
psychological problems yet an underutilization of health services is common in
this population. Despite the importance of this phenomenon, research examining
factors that contribute to it is relatively new. The purpose of this study was
to determine the associations between prolonged grief and the following
variables: personality styles (specifically, narcissistic, histrionic, and
obsessive), trauma history, and the perceived meaning of the loss in 56 young
adults (under the 50 years old) who lost their partners/spouses to cancer six
months to three years prior to the study. The perceived meaning of the loss and
the frequency of traumatic events were the only variables significantly
correlated with prolonged grief. Exploratory analyses revealed that negative
meaning of the loss was the only strong predictor to prolonged grief and that
many other personality styles that were not part of the hypotheses for this
study were significantly correlated with prolonged grief. An elevated prolonged
grief level was also found compared to previously published studies examining
prolonged grief levels. It is possible that this population (young bereaved
spouses) is not as flexible in reconstructing their view of the world as other
age groups due to the death invalidating their previous held beliefs about how
the world and life should work. Without being able to use previously held
constructions to make sense of this loss, these individuals are left paralyzed
in their grief.
