Role of Deceased Mentors in the Ongoing Lives of Protégés

Abstract

Participants addressed questions relating to the role(s) that deceased mentors continue to play in their lives, if any. Three active roles, designated as role model, situation specific guidance, and values clarification emerged, along with one inactive role designated remembrance formation. Roles were evenly distributed among participants. Membership in role category appeared unrelated to participants' age, gender, relationship to mentor, length and timing of mentoring, degree of grief resolution, emotional stability, and a number of other potentially relevant variables. Findings are discussed in relation to Western theories of grief, the emerging literature on continuing bonds with the deceased, and implications for conceptual changes in the language and goals of grief therapy and grief counseling.