Abstract
Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the rate of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) and associated factors in a large sample of diverse college students. Sources of grief support and perceived helpfulness of support were also examined.Method: An online survey was administered to bereaved students at three colleges at the City University of New York. PGD measured by the Inventory of Complicated Grief was the primary outcome. Chi-squared and t-tests were used to assess the association between PGD and associated factors.Results: A total of n = 899 participants completed the Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG) based on a significant death loss = >12 months. An estimated 13.4% (n = 120/899) met criteria for PGD. The rate of PGD was associated with race, history of anxiety or depression, trauma other than the death, insecure attachment style, kinship to the deceased, closeness to the deceased, cause of death, and sudden/unexpected death. The majority of students sought grief support from a friend or family member.Conclusion: The rate of PGD in this sample of college students is similar to that of adults and most prevalent for students of color. Identification of those most at risk is critical to referring these students to effective treatments.
Highlights
The death of a loved one is one of the most difficult life experiences and often triggers a grief reaction with intense and painful emotions
Based on the findings reported by Goldsmith et al (2008) and Laurie and Neimeyer (2008), we could expect to find a higher rate of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) in this sample
I think about the wonderful person that she was, and I look for ways that her memory lives on. Remembering her is my way of grieving. To this author’s knowledge, this study is the first to report on the prevalence of PGD in a large sample of diverse American college students
Summary
The death of a loved one is one of the most difficult life experiences and often triggers a grief reaction with intense and painful emotions. The ICD-11 (World Health Organization, 2019) characterizes PGD as persistent symptoms of acute grief lasting beyond 6 months that include yearning for or preoccupation with thoughts of the deceased and intense emotional pain (e.g., sadness, guilt, anger, difficulty accepting the death, feeling one has lost a part of one’s self, an inability to experience positive mood, and emotional numbness). These symptoms cause significant impairment in work and social functioning and a withdrawal from previously enjoyed activities. Prevalence studies have shown that roughly 10% of adults bereaved by PGD in Diverse College Students natural causes develop PGD (Lundorff et al, 2017) with higher rates for bereavement due to traumatic/violent death or disasters (Kristensen et al, 2012)
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