Grief Responses of Spouses following the Death of a Child: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Thirty-three bereaved husbands and wives whose child had died completed the Grief Experience Inventory at three different times over a one-year period. A repeated-measures MANOVA found significant differences between grief levels of spouses' responses and/or differences over time in ten of the twelve variables studied: denial, despair, guilt, loss of control, rumination, depersonalization, somatization, death anxiety, vigor, and physical strength. A Pearson product-moment correlation indicated that spouses' negative feelings about their marriages were significantly correlated, in a positive direction, with higher levels of grief following the child's death. At the end of the year-long study, however, there were few significant relationships between levels of grief and negative feelings about their marriages for wives and none for husbands.