Unfinished business (incomplete, unexpressed or unresolved relationship issues with the deceased) is frequently discussed as a risk factor for chronic and severe grief reactions. However, few empirical studies have examined this construct. The present study aimed to address this gap in the literature by examining the presence and severity of unfinished business as well as common themes of unfinished business reported in open-ended qualitative narratives among a sample of 224 bereaved individuals. In bivariate analyses, self-reported presence of unfinished business and the severity of distress due to unfinished business were both found to be associated with poorer bereavement outcomes. However, after controlling for potential confounds, distress related to unresolved issues with the deceased emerged as a more robust correlate of these outcomes. Qualitative responses were categorized, and the type of reported unfinished business was not significantly related to the degree of unfinished business distress or other bereavement outcomes. These findings provide preliminary justification for bereavement interventions that aim to ameliorate distress related to unresolved relational issues with the deceased.
Trait absorption reflects a propensity to have one's attention drawn to engaging sensory or imaginal experiences. It is related to self-reported levels of positive and negative emotionality, but little work has examined whether absorption is related to greater levels of basic emotional processing. We used the late positive potential (LPP) to pictures and P3 response to subsequent startle probes during those pictures to examine how absorption was related to initial emotional processing and reactivity to a second stimulus. Across genders, absorption was positively related to LPP amplitude to emotional versus neutral pictures at PZ, and it was negatively related to overall P3 amplitude to startle probes at FZ. Thus, absorption appears to index greater processing of emotional material at the cost of reduced processing of subsequent incoming stimuli.
Although unresolved issues with the deceased are often targeted in bereavement interventions, understanding of this construct has been hampered by the lack of a psychometrically validated scale to assess it. To address this gap, the Unfinished Business in Bereavement Scale (UBBS) was developed and tested in two samples of bereaved adults (n = 292 and 168). In exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the UBBS was found to be composed of two related factors. Items tapping into Unfulfilled Wishes pertained to unspoken affirmations or missed opportunities with the deceased. These experiences often emerged in loving relationships and only became problematic when accompanied by high levels of distress. In contrast, Unresolved Conflict pertained to unaddressed disputes or indiscretions. It primarily occurred in relationships characterized by anxiety and conflict and conferred risk for prolonged grief reactions even when endorsed at moderate levels. Other findings strongly supported the internal consistency, concurrent validity, and incremental validity of the UBBS. Unfinished business and meaning made of loss together accounted for 50-60% of the variance in prolonged grief symptoms. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.
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