INVITED ESSAY: Death-Specific Religious Beliefs and Bereavement: Belief in an Afterlife and Continued Attachment

Abstract

This article integrates findings from a wide variety of research to describe the roles of death-specific religious beliefs in the course of stress and coping in bereavement. First, a meaning-making approach to the stress-coping process is presented and used to illustrate how death-specific beliefs provide meaning to the appraisal of a death and influence the process of coping with that death. Then, the constructs of belief in an afterlife and continued attachment are introduced as death-specific beliefs influential in the process of coping with bereavement. Finally, the meaning-making stress-coping framework is used to review and integrate available literature on these beliefs, their correlates, and their possible functions in the course of bereavement. We suggest that death-specific religious beliefs are vital determinants of adjustment to bereavement, and that these beliefs should be regarded as a legitimate focus of investigation. We conclude with suggestions for future research.