摘要:

Early research in the field of bereavement and widowhood was often problem generated and focused on intrapersonal issues such as health consequences. More recent research has emphasized that, to understand the grieving individual, we must also understand the social context in which the bereavement occurred and in which recovery must progress. This introduction traces the historical development of theory, empirical research, and methodology in the field, and places current developments in perspective. The papers in this issue underline the complexity of the bereavement phenomenon, and the need for conceptual perspectives with which to understand the cultural, socioeconomic, interpersonal, and physiological determinants of grief, mourning, and recovery.

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1988.tb02073.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Although descriptions of the behavioral and medical consequences of bereavement are numerous, the biological links between grief and increased risk for medical illness are far from established. Our knowledge of some of the hormonal, physiological, and immunological consequences of stress has been advanced through the study of human populations and appropriate animal models. There is a growing consensus that there are measurable changes in a number of biological systems that have direct relevance to the increased risk for illness noted in the recently bereaved. However, studies of the process of bereavement in human populations are full of confounding design, measurement, and conceptual problems. A particularly relevant animal model with similarities to the grief process is available in young nonhuman primates, which have demonstrated a number of immunological, endocrine, and physiological responses to brief mother‐infant separation experiences. Many of these changes occur in the absence of some of the confounding factors noted in the human research. This paper reviews the results of some of the studies of biological correlates, particularly relevant to the bereavement process, in both humans and nonhuman primates, and it discusses potential social intervention strategies that may have a significant impact on the biological system and modulate the risk for illnes

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1988.tb02074.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Relationships whose loss triggers grief are termed “relationships of attachment.” These relationships are pair‐bond relationships, parental attachments to children, transference relationships to helpers, and persisting childlike attachments to parents. Because these relationships share significant characteristics, it is proposed that they are developments of a single socio‐emotional system—the attachment system of children. This point of view permits a unified treatment of a number of topics, including the threats that elicit attachment emotions and behaviors, the impact of loss, the nature and course of recovery from loss, impediments to recovery, and the forms taken by failures t

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1988.tb02075.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

There are many ways of construing the psychology of loss. This paper describes one such model, which enlightens some, but not all, aspects of bereavement and needs to be used alongside other models. Loss is one aspect of psychosocial transition, the psychological change that takes place whenever people are faced with the need to undertake a major revision of their assumptions about the world. The paper focuses on the ways in which people change or fail to change their internal model of the world in the face of emergent events. Examples are taken from bereavement, loss of a limb, and the succession of losses that mark the course of terminal illness. Implications for identifying people at risk and mitigating that risk are outlined.

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1988.tb02076.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Although the psychology of grief focuses on individuals, grief occurs in the context of social relationships and culture. The dynamic effects of the social and cultural context on individual grief are discussed from the perspective of symbolic interaction theory and family systems theory. Implications of these theories presented here include problems for the bereaved due to loss of a person who was an important part of the social context, the role of material objects in bereavement, problems when bereavement occurs in ethnically mixed close relationships, the effects of family dynamics in reaction to a loss, ambivalence of bereaved people toward social interactions, the value of casual social support in bereavement, the occurrence of misinformed professional prescriptions for the bereaved, and limits on our knowledge of what another may be feeling. The theoretical analysis leads to discussion of difficulties in providing social support and social services for the bereaved.

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1988.tb02077.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper examines grief as an emotion and contrasts it with an alternative conception of grief as a disease. Emotions and (to a lesser extent) diseases are constituted, in part, through their relation to social systems. Recently, there has been a trend toward “treating” grief within the health care system. As this trend continues, grief will inevitably accrue some of the aspects of a disease, and it will lose some of its meaning as an emotion. The theoretical and social implications of this shift in meaning are explo

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1988.tb02078.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Studies indicate that many factors that impinge on bereaved individuals can cause an elevated health risk. These include sudden unexpected death, lack of social support, concurrent crises, ambivalent or dependent personalities, age, gender, and death of a child. While any one of these factors alone can cause problems, a combination of factors poses the most major risks. This paper reviews the evidence of risks among four general categories: biographic/demographic factors, individual factors, mode of death, and circumstances following the loss.

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1988.tb02079.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The life a woman develops in marriage becomes more or less disorganized with the death of her husband. Many characteristics of a society, a community, and a woman influence the degree of disorganization of her life with the death of her husband, and the direction and form of her life that emerges after the period of mourning and heavy grief is over. Aspects of a widow's life that I and my colleagues have studied include her support systems, social roles, lifestyle, and self‐concept. These aspects are built gradually, or changed dramatically, as a result of disorganizing events followed by reorganizing processes. This paper examines the support systems American urban women have developed in widowhoo

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1988.tb02080.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) I Epidemiologic Followup Study were used to examine some long‐term consequences of widowhood. Beginning with a sample of over 14,000 respondents between the ages of 25 and 74, a 10‐year follow‐up traced 94% of those initially married and 93% of the widowed. There were no differences between these groups in mortality rate when adjusted for age and education differences. Three groups—those married at both times, those widowed during the follow‐up interval, and those widowed at both times—were then compared on measures of psychosocial status and functioning at the time of the follow‐up. Longitudinal analyses were also conducted for subsamples with data on the same variables at initial survey and follow‐up. The widowed had lower family income and were more likely to have been institutionalized. However, they showed little or no difference on measures of self‐rated health, activities of daily living, social network size, extroversion, openness to experience, psychological well‐being, and depression. These results highlight the psychological resilience of most individuals and their capacity to adapt to stressful ev

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1988.tb02081.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The Tübingen Longitudinal Study of Bereavement was designed to provide information on (a) health deterioration and recovery following bereavement, (b) risk factors in bereavement, and (c) selection and social desirability as potential biases in health findings in this type of research. A sample of widows and widowers were interviewed three times during the first two years following their loss. Measures of their health and well‐being were compared to those of a matched sample of married individuals. Data were also collected on the health status of some of the widowed who refused participation. The findings suggest the following conclusions: (1) Partner loss is associated with an increased level of depressive and somatic symptoms during the first six months, but the majority of bereaved gradually recover over the two‐year period. (2) Individuals with low internal control beliefs who have experienced an unexpected loss constitute a risk group of individuals who suffer most and recover least. (3) Due to selection, the impact of bereavement is likely to be underestimated for widowers and overestimated for widows. Implications of these findings are discu

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1988.tb02082.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY