title: Difficulties accepting the loss of a spouse: a precursor for intensified grieving among widowed older adults.
abstract: Previous research has identified three distinct factors that make up the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief-Present (TRIG-Present) scale, which tap into grief related thoughts, emotional response, and nonacceptance regarding a loss. In the present study, the authors sought to identify which of these core grief experiences in the early aftermath of loss are predictive of subsequent intensified grieving. Information was collected from 169 conjugally bereaved older adults at 2- and 12-months following the loss of their spouse. Using a cross-lagged panel design, early experiences of nonacceptance were found to significantly predict more intense grief experiences later on; whereas grief-related thoughts and emotional response were not strongly related to grief at 12-months postloss, after accounting for synchronous (cross-sectional) and autoregressive (stability in the same factor over time) associations. These findings suggest that practitioners working with bereaved clients should pay close attention to early expressions of nonacceptance.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada 89754-5030, USA. jmhollnd@gmail.com
authors: Jason M
authors: JM
authors: Holland
authors: Department of Psychology, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Futterman
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
authors: Larry W
authors: LW
authors: Thompson
authors: Department of Psychology, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: Moran
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
authors: Dolores
authors: D
authors: Gallagher-Thompson
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004644:Emotions; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D015141:Los Angeles; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D013850:Thinking; D017805:Widowhood / Q000523:psychology*