Anticipatory grief and postdeath adjustment

Abstract

College students (N = 224) described their adjustment to the death of a signaficant other and identified whether they had anticipated the death for I week or longer (anticipation group) or less than I week (unanticipated comparison group). The anticipation group reported better postdeath adjustment than the comparison group in terms of occurrence and frequency of grief-related symptoms, acceptance of the death, and perceived helpfulness and harmfulness of anticipation. Within the anticipation group, length of anticipation appeared to have little relationship to postdeath adjustment. While reported social support was unrelated to the apparent benefit of anticipation, the age ofthe person who had died was significantly associated with both anticipation and postdeath adjustment.