The Grief Resolution Process in Divorce

Abstract

Building on a pilot study published in the Journal of Divorce (Fall, 1983), the work reported in phase two is based on 141 responses to a questionnaire rather than personal first-person essay accounts employed in phase one. Thc model is a 3 X 3 X 3 taxonomy: three process stages; three filing categories (Actives-Passives-Mutuals); and three variables (Affect-Cognition-Behavior). Utilizing clusters, (a semantic and perceptual representation of related ernotions, thoughts, and behaviors by incorporating related words under a banner word representing the entire range) the results of phase two revealed twenty-five out of twenty-seven significant chi squares, indicating the modal frequency of responses at various stages in the divorce process. The recovery "lag" between actives and passives was not confirmed as in the 1983 pilot. The passive "lag" exists only in the second stage but does not extend into the post-divorce stage. Thc recovery pattern between the actives and the mutuals bears strong similarity, wherein the passive pattern in the first two stages is quite different.