Pet death as disenfranchised loss: examining posttraumatic growth and attachment in college students
Date
2021
Authors
Adams, John, author
Rickard, Kathryn, advisor
Prince, Mark, committee member
Davalos, Deana, committee member
Biringen, Zeynep, committee member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
People in Western societies who have experienced the death of close loved ones can feel as though the impact of their grief is ignored and sometimes not taken seriously. Individuals who have experienced losses even less recognized than human death, such as pet death, can feel completely invalidated and unsupported in their loss. This phenomenon is referred to as disenfranchised grief. Within a pet bereaved sample, this study sought to examine the impacts of social support, severity of grief, and strength of attachment on posttraumatic growth. The study attempted to replicate findings from Spain, O'Dwyer, and Moston (2019) that found that grief symptom severity moderated a negative relationship between loss of social support and posttraumatic growth. This study also explored the impact of insecure attachment on social support and grief severity within a pet bereaved sample. Finally, this study observed possible influences of differences within pet bereaved individuals related to type of pet and whether the pet was euthanized. College students in introductory psychology courses at a large western United States university completed a survey that assessed extent of social support, grief symptom severity, strength of attachment to pet, insecure attachment, and posttraumatic growth. Results indicated that while grief symptoms and strength of attachment to pet were not moderators for social support and posttraumatic, social support and grief symptoms contributed to increases in posttraumatic growth. Insecure attachment was also found to detract from social support. The findings of this study can inform the clinical treatment of pet bereaved persons and inform future research of pet bereavement as well as disenfranchised loss overall.