Older adult bereavement: A comparison of bereaved parents and spouses

Date

1993-12

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Texas Tech University

Abstract

The Double ABCX Model of Family Adaptation was used to study the grief experience of older adults who had suffered the loss of an adult child (Group 1) or spouse (Group 2). As hypothesized, results indicated a poorer health status outcome and a higher grief intensity level for Group 1 in omparison to Group 2. Contrary to expectations. Group 1 revealed lower depression and social withdrawal scores compared to Group 2. In addition, bereaved parents with a low number of network sources of support were compared with bereaved parents with a high number of network sources of support. As predicted, parents with a high number of sources of support reported less social withdrawal, significantly less depression, and a significantly better health outcome. Hypothesis 4, which predicted a lower grief intensity level for parents with a high number of support sources, was not supported. Implications for future research are also discussed.

Description

Keywords

Bereavement, Bereavement in old age

Citation