Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) is a psychological disorder that encompasses the enduring and high levels of grief related distress, above and beyond what is considered normal, that occur in a small proportion of the bereaved population (Prigerson et al., 2009). Few studies investigate individuals who have been parentally bereaved as adolescents or young adults. As a result, there is insufficient data to assume previously identified risk factors will accurately and reliably predict PGD vulnerability in this demographic. This study aimed to fill this gap by corroborating predictors that have previously been found to be significant in a sample of individuals who have been parentally bereaved as adolescents or young adults. Previously significant predictors were successfully replicated in this research, including sex of the participant and parent, inclusion of the deceased in sense of self, participant age, COVID-19 restrictions, and manner of death. Several novel relationships were observed, with this study finding that family dynamic reorganisation, congruency of the sex of the parent and participant, and minimisation of grief being found to predict PGD symptom severity. However, expectedness of death, conflict, age of the parent at their death and feelings of responsibility for the surviving parent were not found to be significant predictors. Furthermore, a hierarchical multiple regression demonstrated that percentage of life without the parent, anxious and avoidant attachment, anaclitic and relatedness dependency, closeness, minimisation of grief and family dynamic reorganisation accounted for 47.4% of PG-13-R score variance. Furthermore, 40.23% of this sample met the diagnostic criteria for PGD, which is higher than previously reported estimates (Lundorff et al., 2019). These findings will contribute to a bank of data that can meaningfully be compared and could have practical uses for the identification and treatment of those who have PGD.
An extended investigation into predictors of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) in individuals who were parentally bereaved as adolescents or young adults
Stephens, M. (Author). 21 Mar 2023
Student thesis: Master's Thesis › Master of Science by Research (MScR)