College students coping with loss
Date
2018
Authors
Adams, John, author
Rosén, Lee A., advisor
Dik, Bryan, committee member
Henry, Kimberly L., committee member
Biringen, Zeynep, committee member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
Approximately 22 to 30 percent of all college students have experienced the death of a friend or family member in the last 12 months (Balk 2008, 2010; Hardison, Neimeyer & Lichstein, 2005). Grief caused by a death loss significantly impairs the academic performance, social functioning, and emotional health of college students (Balk & Vesta, 1998; Balk, 2008; Servaty-Seib & Hamilton, 2006). There are many ways to cope with and process grief. Posttraumatic growth can result in feeling a greater appreciation for life, feeling closer to loved ones and overall more self-confident (Davis, 2008). However, research has yielded mixed results regarding the impact of posttraumatic growth on grief symptoms, with some studies finding that posttraumatic growth decreases grief symptoms and others finding that it has no impact on grief symptoms or increases symptoms (Davis, Nolen-Hoeksema, & Larson (1998); Linley, Joseph, & Goodfellow (2008); Calhoun & Tedeschi (2006)). Continuing bonds is an approach to grieving that aims to redefine the relationship with the deceased, maintaining it symbolically, spiritually, and/or in memory (Attig, 1996; Hedtke & Winslade, 2003). Previous studies exploring the impact of continuing bonds on grief symptoms have also had mixed results (Neimeyer, Baldwin & Gillies (2006); Rando (1993)). This study sought to explore how both approaches to grief impact grief symptoms in a college aged population that has experienced a death loss in the past year. Additionally, this study also considered another outcome variable uniquely relevant to college students: college adjustment. This study examined how both of these approaches to grieving impacting college students' social, academic, and emotional adjustment to the college environment. When the control variables age, gender, and type of loss were considered, the contributions of the linear regression model to adjustment variance was nonsignificant. Posttraumatic growth had a nonsignificant effect on grief symptoms. Continuing bonds scores were found to have a significant positive relationship with grief symptoms. These findings suggest that continuing bonds contributes to increased grief symptoms for college students, discouraging the use of continuing bonds based interventions for bereaved students in college counseling centers. Future research could examine why continuing bonds has this impact on college students and what approaches to processing grief could help reduce grief symptoms in college students.