Relation between grief and subsequent pregnancy status 13 months after perinatal bereavement
Abstract
Aims: The present longitudinal study sought to explore the relationship between parental grief following perinatal bereavement and subsequent pregnancy, according to the particular facets of grief and pregnancy state being considered. Method: The study participants were 63 couples who had been bereaved by stillbirth (n=31) or neonatal death (n=32). The relationship of self-reported grief (Perinatal Grief Scale-33 Active Grief, Difficulty Coping and Despair) 1 month and 13 months after the loss to subsequent pregnancy status (Pregnant, n=20, Live Baby, n=10, Trying, n=11, Not Trying, n=22) at 13 months was investigated with repeated measures analysis of variance. Results: There were statistically significant main effects for Active Grief and Difficulty Coping in women and men and Despair in women, but not in men. There was a statistically significant Active Grief by pregnancy status interaction in women (F(3, 59)=2.89, P=0.04), but not in men. Simple main effects analysis indicated a statistically significant decrease in Active Grief in women who were pregnant (F(1, 59)=52.8, P<0.0005), women who were not pregnant and not trying to conceive (F(1, 59)=27.5, P<0.0005), and women who had had a live baby (F(1, 59)=9.62, P=0.003). There was no statistically significant decrease in Active Grief in women who were not pregnant but trying to conceive (F(1, 59)=3.44, P=0.07). The Difficulty Coping in women and men and Despair in women by pregnancy status interactions were not statistically significant. None of the between-subjects main effects for pregnancy status was statistically significant in women or men. Conclusion: The relation between grief and subsequent pregnancy differed with the sex of the parent and the particular facets of grief and pregnancy state being considered. Subsequent pregnancy was related to Active Grief in women, but not to Difficulty Coping or Despair that are known to be predictors of chronic grief.
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Current grief measures may not capture all of the complexities of grief for men.
“current grief measures may not capture all of the complexities of grief for men”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [89]
Thirteen included studies used the Perinatal Grief Scale (PGS) as a primary measure of grief.
“Although 13 studies used the Perinatal Grief Scale (PGS) as a primary measure of grief”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [89]
With the exception of 12 studies, almost all included studies used convenience, purposive or snowball sampling to recruit participants.
“With the exception of 12 studies, [25, 55, 68, 81, 86, 88–90, 92, 94–96], almost all studies used convenience, purposive or snowball sampling to recruit participants.”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [89]
Some included studies noted that the use of existing grief measures (including the PGS and RIMS) might not be valid for measuring men's grief experiences, particularly in relation to potential differences between internal versus external grieving styles.
“Importantly, however, some studies noted that the use of existing grief measures (including the PGS and RIMS) might not be valid for measuring men’s grief experiences, particularly in relation to potential differences between internal versus external grieving styles [23, 84, 89, 95].”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [89]
Of the included quantitative studies, 16 included an analysis on predictors of men's grief and/or correlations to related factors.
“Of the included quantitative studies, 16 included an analysis on predictors of men’s grief and/or correlations to related factors [23–25, 67, 76, 84, 86–93, 95, 96].”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [89]
In two quantitative studies, no significant relationships were found between current subsequent pregnancy status and grief intensity.
“In two quantitative studies including subsequent pregnancy status as an indicator of grief intensity, no significant relationships were found between a group who were currently pregnant following a loss, and a group who had not had a subsequent pregnancy or child [84, 89].”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [89]
In the remaining two studies, presence of living children at the time of loss was unrelated to grief.
“However, for the remaining two studies including this factor, it was unrelated [86, 89].”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [89]
Some authors have questioned the ecological validity of current grief measures.
“Although inconsistencies concerning grief between quantitative and qualitative studies highlight the varied nature of men’s experiences, some authors have questioned the ecological validity of current grief measures [23, 84, 89, 95].”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [89]
Some items and subscales of PGS have been criticised for measuring traditionally feminine expressions of grief, potentially under-recognising masculine expressions.
“As such, some of the items and subscales have been criticised for measuring more traditionally ‘feminine’ (or intuitive) expressions of grief, which may under-recognise more ‘masculine’ (or instrumental) expressions and responses.”
From Men’s grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal loss: a systematic review and emerging theoretical model (2020) · cites this paper as [89]
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- Authors
- Barr, P.
- Affiliations
- Children's Hospital at Westmead (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Barr, Peter
- ORCID
- Barr, Peter
- Venue
- jpme
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 2006-04-07
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 207-211
- ISSN
- 0300-5577 (ISSN-L)
- 1619-3997
- OpenAlex
- W1967955774
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 1.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Perinatal Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Global Maternal and Child Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Keywords
- perinatal bereavement, parental grief, subsequent pregnancy, stillbirth, neonatal death, despair, sex differences, chronic grief, Perinatal Grief Scale
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Aged, Analysis of Variance, Female, Grief, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Parents, Pregnancy, Time Factors, Pregnancy Rate, Stillbirth
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