Grief Responses of Spouses following the Death of a Child: A Longitudinal Study
- 1 March 1991
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying
- Vol. 22 (2) , 109-121
- https://doi.org/10.2190/qcx3-36wq-kjtq-3n1v
Abstract
Thirty-three bereaved husbands and wives whose child had died completed the Grief Experience Inventory at three different times over a one-year period. A repeated-measures MANOVA found significant differences between grief levels of spouses' responses and/or differences over time in ten of the twelve variables studied: denial, despair, guilt, loss of control, rumination, depersonalization, somatization, death anxiety, vigor, and physical strength. A Pearson product-moment correlation indicated that spouses' negative feelings about their marriages were significantly correlated, in a positive direction, with higher levels of grief following the child's death. At the end of the year-long study, however, there were few significant relationships between levels of grief and negative feelings about their marriages for wives and none for husbands.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- A Death in the Family: Parental Bereavement in the First YearSuicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 1983
- An Investigation of Grief and Adaptation in Parents Whose Children Have Died from CancerJournal of Pediatric Psychology, 1983
- A Comparison of Adult Bereavement in the Death of a Spouse, Child, and ParentOMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying, 1980