When college students grieve: New insights into the effects of loss during emerging adulthood

Abstract

The present study used a revised online version of the College Student Bereavement Survey (the CSBS-R) to study the effects of student grief on college academics and social life. Of the 969 respondents, 408 (42%) reported grieving a relatively recent death of a person of significance in their lives. Hierarchical multiple regressions using gender, multiple deaths, closeness to the deceased, and/or social media use as independent variables revealed closeness to the deceased explaining a significant proportion of the variance of academic and social/peer experiences. Findings underscore the need for student bereavement policies, and how social media and closeness to the deceased affect the college experience.

Acknowledgments

The first author would like to thank the many student research assistants who provided help and input on the design of the surveys, data coding, and interpretation of the findings.