College Students' Perceptions of Helpful Responses to Bereaved Persons: Effects of Sex of Bereaved Persons and Cause of Death

Abstract

The present study examined whether the Sex of the participant, Cause of death (natural causes or suicide) and Sex of the bereaved were related to the perceived helpfulness of the behaviors and comments of support providers. After reading one of four scenarios in which a parent's cause of death and the sex of the grieving child were varied, 198 college students (112 women, 86 men) rated the helpfulness of 34 statements. Significant main effects for sex of the participant and cause of death were both found. While no significant main effect for sex of the bereaved was found, this variable did interact with sex of the participant and with cause of death for the variable of Provision of physical comfort. Significant interactions for sex of the participant x cause of death were found for the variables of Provision of physical comfort and Identification with the situation. The results underscore the value of multiple providers of support during grieving.

Effects of Cognitive Complexity and Emotional Upset on Processing Supportive Messages: Two Tests of a Dual-Process Theory of Supportive Communication Outcomes

“…Recent research has found that grief management messages high in person centeredness are generally experienced as more helpful than those low in person centeredness (Rack et al, 2008; Servaty‐Seib & Burleson, 2007). There is, however, growing evidence that recipient responses to grief management efforts vary as a function of helper characteristics, situational factors, and recipient characteristics (Knight, Elfenbein, & Messina‐Soares, 1998; Pennebaker, Mayne, & Francis, 1997; Range, Kovac, & Marion, 2000; Range, Walston, & Pollard, 1992; Suitor & Pillemer, 2000; Zech, Rime, & Nils, 2004). Study 1 sought to address our hypotheses and research question by determining whether differences in processing grief management messages (indexed by the degree of discrimination in evaluations of LPC and HPC messages) could be explained in terms of factors related to processing ability and motivation (i.e., cognitive complexity, degree of emotional upset).…”

African American Homicide Bereavement: Aspects of Social Support That Predict Complicated Grief, PTSD, and Depression

“…As Neimeyer and Jordan (2002) explained, even when others are naturally swept along with us in our grief, still "facets of our individual experience will inevitably go unrecognized, unarticulated, and unvalued" (p. 95), especially when the loss is non-normative. This suggests that social interaction does not always equal social support (Knight, Elfenbein, & Messina-Soares, 1998); rather, as Fiore, Becker, and Coppel (1983) aptly stated, social interaction can engender stress as easily as it can support.…”