Neuropsychological Correlates of Complicated Grief in Older Spousally Bereaved Adults
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVES: Across many research domains, evidence for complicated grief as a distinct psychopathology continues to grow. Previous research from neuropsychology has shown an increased attentional bias to emotionally relevant stimuli in those suffering from complicated grief. This study furthers our understanding of the characteristics that distinguish complicated grief. We expand on previous research by (a) testing older adults, (b) excluding those with comorbid major depressive disorder, (c) using participant-chosen grief-related stimuli, and (d) using a married, nonbereaved control group. METHODS: We recruited 76 older adults in 3 groups: spousally bereaved with complicated grief, spousally bereaved with noncomplicated grief, and nonbereaved controls. Performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, Digit Span Backwards, and the emotional counting Stroop was examined. RESULTS: Results indicate longer reaction time across 3 blocks of grief-related words in the complicated grief group but no difference across 3 blocks of the neutral words. The 3 groups performed comparably on the other neurocognitive tasks, indicating no cognitive differences in working memory or set shifting between groups. Furthermore, these effects of complicated grief generalize to older adults and appear independent of major depression. DISCUSSION: Complicated grief has cognitive interference as a neuropsychological component highlighting it as distinct from noncomplicated grief.
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- Authors
- O'Connor, M.-F., & Arizmendi, B. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- Venue
- The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2013-04-03
- Volume
- 69B
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 12-18
- ISSN
- 1079-5014 (ISSN-L)
- 1758-5368
- PMC
- PMC3968854
- OpenAlex
- W2128763509
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 3.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Journals of Gerontology Series B (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (AG019610)
- National Institute on Aging (P30-AG019610-12, AG019610, P30AG019610, K01AG028404)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- complicated grief, death of a spouse, older adults, attentional bias, emotional Stroop task, cognitive interference, reaction time, major depressive disorder, working memory, set-shifting, neuropsychological correlates
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Bereavement, Cognition, Depression, Female, Grief, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Case-Control Studies, Widowhood, Stroop Test
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