Cluster analysis of prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress, and depression symptoms in bereaved asylum seekers and refugees

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic and flight-related characteristics for the total sample and clusters.

	Total sample (N = 92)	Cluster 1: PGD (n = 28, 30.43%)	Cluster 2: PGD/PTSD (n = 29, 31.52%)	Cluster 3: Resilient (n = 35, 38.04%)	Differences between clusters
Sociodemographic variables
Gender, N (%)					χ^2 (2, N = 92) = 1.332
Male	63 (68.48)	17 (60.71)	20 (68.97)	26 (74.29)
Female	29 (31.52)	11 (39.29)	9 (31.03)	9 (25.71)
Age (M (SD))	30.83 (9.56)	32.21 (8.26)	29.66 (7.39)	30.69 (11.95)	F(2, 89) = 0.551
Ethnicity (N (%))					χ^2 (8, N = 92) = 9.556
Arabic	46 (50.00)	16 (57.14)	13 (44.83)	17 (48.57)
Kurdish	29 (31.52)	8 (28.57)	9 (31.93)	12 (34.29)
Afghan	14 (15.22)	2 (7.14)	7 (24.14)	5 (14.29)
Yezidi	2 (2.17)	2 (7.14)	0	0
Persian	1 (1.09)	0	0	1 (2.86)
Asylum and flight-related variables
Residence status (N (%))
Secure	39 (42.39)	9 (31.14)	8 (27.59)	22 (62.86)
Insecure	53 (57.61)	19 (67.96)	21 (27.59)	13 (37.14)
Duration of flight (M (SD))	166.14 (397.86)	222.21 (496.47)	198.53 (390.84)	94.44 (305.53)	F(2, 89) = 0.941
Duration of stay in Germany (M (SD))	17.68 (13.38)	11.70 (11.66)	17.95 (15.46)	22.24 (11.10)	F(2, 89) = 5.290*
Duration of German language acquisition (M (SD))	7.50 (17.16)^a	3.10 (4.99)	9.28 (28.55)	9.42 (8.22)	F(2, 88) = 1.273

Note: *p < .05. ^aOne person stated that they had a language level of B1 and did not give any information on the duration of language acquisition.

Table 2. Means, standard deviations, correlations and internal consistency.

Variable	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	α
1. Age	30.83	9.56
2. Gender^1			.01
3. Duration of flight	166.14	397.86	.07	.11
4. Duration of stay	17.68	13.38	.14	−.01	.01
5. Duration of language acquisition^2	7.50	17.16	−.10	−.12	−.09	.14
6. PGD	29.30	19.86	−.03	.01	.08	−.25*	−.00								.93
7. PTSD	30.52	18.44	−.08	−.06	−.05	−.12	.11	.50**							.90
8. Depression4	9.72	6.78	.09	.09	.10	.24*	.31**	.12	.31**						.83
9. Exposure to PTE^3	7.40	3.43	.07	−.42**	−.04	.22*	.08	−.03	.25*	.18
10. Residence status^4			−.25*	−.03	−.05	−.57**	−.11	.33**	.35**	−.17	.03
11. Attachment anxiety	1.70	1.50	−.34**	.00	.10	−.11	.07	.14	.30**	.24*	.28**	.11			.73
12. Attachment avoidance	0.89	1.00	−.11	−.13	−.06	.20	.19	−.12	−.01	.15	.25*	−.08	.15		.67
13. Social Support	2.82	0.91	.13	.23*	.18	.12	−.15	−.25*	−.26*	−.15	−.32**	−.28**	−.31**	−.11	.78

Note: Duration of flight in days; duration of stay and duration of language acquisition in months; ¹1 = male, 2 = female; ²n = 91, ³PTE = potentially traumatic events, ⁴1 = insecure, 2 = secure; the last column indicates the internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) of the scale; N = 92; *p < .05, **p < .01.

Figure 1. Mean symptom scores per cluster.

The figure shows mean scores of PGD, PTSD and depressive symptoms for three clusters. The PGD-cluster is characterised by high scores on PGD symptoms, moderate scores on PTSD symptoms and low scores on depressive symptoms. The PGD/PTSD-cluster has high scores on both PGD and PTSD symptoms and moderate scores on depressive symptoms. The resilient cluster has low scores on all symptoms.

Table 3. Single multinominal logistic regression analyses.

	B	SE (B)	p	95% CI
PGD-cluster (vs. resilient cluster)
Exposure to PTE^1	−0.73	0.08	.331	[−0.22, 0.07]
Residence status^2	−1.27	0.54	.017	[−2.36, −0.25]
Attachment anxiety	−0.03	0.18	.865	[−0.40, 0.33]
Attachment avoidance	−0.42	0.28	.140	[−1.02, 0.11]
Perceived social support	−0.20	0.30	.495	[−0.90, 0.38]
PGD/PTSD-cluster (vs. resilient cluster)
Exposure to PTE^1	0.05	0.08	.517	[−0.10, 0.20]
Residence status^2	−1.49	0.54	.006	[−2.60, −0.46]
Attachment anxiety	0.38	0.18	.033	[0.04. 0.74]
Attachment avoidance	−0.16	0.25	.512	[−0.67, 0.31]
Perceived social support	−0.54	0.29	.064	[−1.14, 0.02]
PGD/PTSD-cluster (vs. PGD cluster)
Exposure to PTE^1	0.12	0.08	.128	[−0.03, 0.28]
Residence status^2	−0.22	0.58	.707	[−1.37, 0.92]
Attachment anxiety	0.41	0.19	.031	[0.05, 0.80]
Attachment avoidance	0.26	0.30	.393	[−0.32, 0.87]
Perceived social support	−0.33	0.29	.253	[−0.93, 0.23]

Note: ¹PTE = potentially traumatic events; ²1 = insecure, 2 = secure, Significant values with p < .05 are displayed in bold. N = 92.

Table 4. Multiple multinominal logistic regression analysis.

	B	SE (B)	p	95% CI
PGD-cluster (vs. resilient cluster)
Exposure to PTE^1	−0.03	0.09	.761	[−0.21, 0.15]
Residence status^2	0.33	0.74	.659	[−1.19, 1.76]
Attachment anxiety	−0.07	0.21	.743	[−0.49, 0.34]
Attachment avoidance	−0.22	0.31	.469	[−0.87, 0.35]
Perceived social support	−0.14	0.36	.692	[−0.86, 0.56]
Duration of stay	−0.06	0.03	.061	[−0.12, 0.00]
PGD/PTSD-cluster (vs. resilient cluster)
Exposure to PTE^1	−0.03	0.10	.758	[−0.22, 0.16]
Residence status^2	1.55	0.69	.026	[0.23, 2.97]
Attachment anxiety	0.37	0.21	.072	[−0.02, 0.80]
Attachment avoidance	−0.28	0.30	.357	[−0.90, 0.29]
Perceived social support	−0.28	0.35	.417	[−0.98, 0.38]
Duration of stay	0.02	0.03	.520	[−0.03, 0.07]
PGD/PTSD-cluster (vs. PGD cluster)
Exposure to PTE^1	−0.00	0.10	.978	[−0.20, 0.19]
Residence status^2	1.22	0.82	.136	[−0.33, 2.92]
Attachment anxiety	0.44	0.22	.041	[0.03, 0.89]
Attachment avoidance	−0.05	0.34	.873	[−0.72, 0.61]
Perceived social support	−0.14	0.35	.693	[−0.84, 0.45]
Duration of stay	0.06	0.03	.021	[0.02, 0.14]

Note: ¹PTE: potentially traumatic events; ²1 = insecure, 2 = secure. Significant values with p < .05 are displayed in bold. According to McFadden's pseudo-R², the overall model clarified 12.76% variance. N = 92.

Data availability statement

Data are available upon request to the first author.