Date of Award:

5-2015

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Human Development and Family Studies

Department name when degree awarded

Family, Consumer, and Human Development

Committee Chair(s)

Kathleen W. Piercy (Committee Co-Chair), Maria C. Norton (Committee Co-Chair)

Committee

Kathleen W. Piercy

Committee

Maria C. Norton

Committee

Kay Bradford

Committee

W. David Robinson

Committee

Terry Peak

Abstract

Grief is a natural condition resulting from the death of a loved one, and one of the most grievous experiences a person can endure is the death of a spouse. Grief can be influenced by relationships, the setting, and the survivor’s personal and social resources. Despite many studies on widowhood, young widows have received little attention. This study of 232 young widows between the ages of 18 and 55 in their first 5 years following loss was done to better describe the personal and social factors associated with younger widows’ grief. An online survey was distributed through social network sites and online grief support groups nationwide. Questions were designed to capture participants’ individual differences as well as qualities held in common, psychological wellbeing and social outlets, and the degree at which coping was stuck in the past or looking forward to “what now?” I found that those widows who were more commonly focused on the past and their loss, reported higher levels of grief. Additionally, those widows who had been in their relationships longer, and had stronger bonds with their late husbands had lower levels of grief. However, widows’ sense of “who they are,” religiosity, and social support were limited in their ultimate influence on participants’ grief. These findings highlighted similarities as well as differences when compared to past widowhood research.

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