Examining the Delayed Grief Hypothesis Across 5 Years of Bereavement

Abstract

Traditional bereavement theories emphasize that it is crucial to work through the emotional meanings of a loss and that the failure to do so typically results in delayed grief symptoms. This article reports data examining these assumptions prospectively across the first 5 years of bereavement. Based on previous validity data, elevated symptoms were defined in terms of 6-month median scores for each measure. Delayed elevations were observed on isolated measures for 3 (7%) participants. However, these elevations were more parsimoniously explained by random measurement error. Furthermore, when a weighted grief-depression composite score was used to maximize the probability of capturing the true (latent) grief variable, not a single case of delayed symptom elevations was observed. Finally, data on emotional processing of the loss at 6 months failed to support the traditional assumption that minimal emotional processing of the loss would lead to delayed grief.