Recent reviews of the bereavement literature have noted the absence of empirical support for traditional models of coping with loss as well as the need for basic research aimed at establishing the parameters of grief experience, how such experience might relate to other stress and depressive responses, and which basic cognitive, emotional, coping, and personality variables might influence the course of grief. In accord with these needs, the proposed study will utilize a prospective longitudinal design to examine specific questions related to the parameters and predictors of grieving. A battery of interview and questionnaire assessments will be administered between 2 and 4 months into bereavement. The primary dependent measures will be repeated again at 14 and 25 months post- loss. In addition, to distinguish between normative and bereavement-specific processes, a matched sample of married adults will be assessed using similar instruments over approximately the same time course.
A first aim will be to empirically establish the parameters of grief-specific symptoms through psychometric analyses of interview data and through analyses of the interview-based grief score's convergent and discriminate validity in relation to questionnaire and interview measures of general distress and depressive and trauma symptoms.
A second aim will focus on measuring basic cognitive, emotional, and personality processes during bereavement and establishing their predictive relationship to grief course. These include variables pertaining to the experience and expression of emotion related to the loss, coping behaviors and strategies specific to the loss, personality dimensions related to subjective regulation, e.g., dispositional self-deception, and to general functioning, e.g., the Five-Factor Model, verbal-disclosure about the loss, and the personal meaning of the loss. These five sets of basic dimensions will be then examined as predictors of longitudinal grief and health course. The inter-relationship among, and unique predictive utility of, each set of predictors will be established using hierarchical regression and path analyses.
A final aim will be to examine the range of grief symptoms and their relationship to predictor and moderator variables in response to two different types of losses, the loss of a spouse and the loss of a child.
