Measuring meaning: Searching for and making sense of spousal loss in late life
Open accessAbstract
Despite much recent theorizing, evidence regarding the temporal relationship of sense-making to adjustment following bereavement remains relatively sparse. This study examined the role of searching for and making sense of loss in late-life spousal bereavement, using prospective, longitudinal data from the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC) project (N = 250). Searching at 6 and 18 months post-loss predicted both contemporaneous and subsequent grief. Sense-making was not related to grief for this sample. In contrast, sense-making at 6 months and 18 months predicted positive affect at 48 months, although searching had no prospective effect on this outcome. Searching at 6 months predicted depression at 18 months. Results are interpreted in terms of meaning-oriented theories of bereavement and processes promoting both adaptive and maladaptive outcomes.
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Meaning-making prospectively predicts positive adaptation to bereavement.
“added to a growing literature, indicate that meaning-making prospectively predicts positive adaptation to bereavement (88, 92–95).”
From Ayahuasca-assisted meaning reconstruction therapy for grief: a non-randomized clinical trial protocol (2025) · cites this paper as [94]
The Discussion (§ Evidence for Prospective Effects of Searching and Sense-Making) reports that sense-making predicted later positive affect in widowed participants, supporting a prospective link with one positive outcome. But it did not predict unique variance after earlier positive affect was included, and it was not related to grief in this sample. The broader claim that meaning-making predicts positive adaptation to bereavement therefore overstates the mixed findings. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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References 65 · Cited by 106
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Brown J Jose P Ng S Guo J 2002 Psychometric Properties of Three Scales of Depression and Well-being in a Mature New Zealand Sample New Zealand Journal of Psychology 31 39 46
- George L 1996 Affect balance scale Maddox GL Encyclopedia of Aging 2 29 New York Springer Publishing Company
- Neimeyer RA 2006 Widowhood, grief and the quest for meaning: A narrative perspective on resilience Carr D Nesse RM Wortman CB Spousal bereavement in late life 227 252 New York Springer
- Authors
- Coleman, R. A., & Neimeyer, R. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Memphis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Coleman, Rachel A.
- ORCID
- Neimeyer, Robert A.
- Venue
- Death Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2010-09-20
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 804-834
- ISSN
- 0748-1187 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-7683
- PMC
- PMC3910232
- OpenAlex
- W2134519399
- Cited by
- 106
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 6.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Death Studies (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG015948, R01-AG15948-01A1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Keywords
- death of a spouse, sensemaking, grief, bereavement adjustment, depression, positive affect, older couples
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Attitude to Death, Depression, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Grief, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Michigan, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Social Adjustment, Spouse Abuse, Widowhood
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