Patterns of Complicated Grief among Bereaved Parents

Abstract

This study assessed patterns of grief reactions and their adaptiveness, among bereaved parents, who had lost an adult child during military service. The prevalence of the various reactions and their associations with psychosocial adjustment and risk-related factors were examined. Eighty-five bereaved parents filled out a battery of questionnaires 2.5 years after their loss. Type of grief reaction (absence, delayed, prolonged, and resolved) was identified utilizing the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TIG). In addition, psychiatric symptomatology, psychosocial functioning, and sociodemographic background were examined. Results indicated that prolonged grief reactions and absence of grief were the most prevalent variants. Absent and delayed grief reactions were associated with lower levels of psychosocial adjustment compared with prolonged grief reaction. Level of education, religious attitudes, and the circumstances of the loss were associated with the type of grief reaction. The findings of this study demonstrate the complexity of defining certain reactions as complicated. The identification of absence of grief and delayed grief reactions as being complicated is supported, but the inclusion of prolonged grief reaction as a complicated maladaptive reaction should be reconsidered.