title: Continuing bonds, attachment style, and adjustment in the conjugal bereavement among Hong Kong Chinese.
abstract: The present study examined the effects of attachment style and continuing bonds, defined as the extent to which a bereaved individual feels that the deceased remains a part of his/her life, on postbereavement adjustment among 71 conjugally bereaved individuals. It was shown that bereaved individuals with an anxious attachment style tended to show more externalized continuing bonds as well as more grief symptoms. An anxious attachment style played a direct and significant role in postbereavement adjustment over and above the contribution of externalized continuing bonds. Interventions to facilitate restoration tasks and to reduce externalized continuing bonds would be discussed.
authors: Department of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors: Samuel M Y
authors: SM
authors: Ho
authors: Department of Clinical Psychology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong.
authors: Ide S F
authors: IS
authors: Chan
authors: Department of Clinical Psychology, Kowloon Hospital, Hong Kong.
authors: Ernie P W
authors: EP
authors: Ma
authors: PhD Program in Clinical Psychology, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA.
authors: Nigel P
authors: NP
authors: Field
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001601:Bereavement; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009769:Object Attachment; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014175:Translating; D017805:Widowhood / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*