African American Grief

Disenfranchised Grief Following African American Homicide Loss

“…This was evident in Louise's case, where her community and family initially reacted with support of her sorrowful emotions but then expected Louise to "move on" within the weeks and months following Jaden's death. Rosenblatt and Wallace (2005) found a common value of strength in grieving among the narratives of African Americans. In addition, Laurie and Neimeyer (2008) found that although African Americans had larger support networks, they spent less time talking about their grief than their Caucasian counterparts.…”

Responses to Loss and Health Functioning Among Homicidally Bereaved African Americans

“…Thus, among African Americans bereaved by homicide, PTSD seems to be most associated with an inability to perform daily roles, while simultaneously CG and depression seem to correspond with an inability to function in the social world following the loss. Although interpersonal relationships are highly valued in the African American community, particularly as a source of support following normative losses (Rosenblatt & Wallace, 2005;Laurie & Neimeyer, 2008), a state of mourning, intense levels of distress, and the stigma surrounding the loss may have interfered with individuals' ability to interact with others, despite their presumed need to do so. In turn, this social withdrawal may have amplified emotional distress-a plausible conjecture given that Burke and colleagues (2010) found, in a study conducted with this same sample, that both smaller social support networks and higher levels of negative interactions were correlated with higher levels of bereavement distress (i.e., CG, PTSD, and depression).…”

How Death Imitates Life: Cultural Influences on Conceptions of Death and Dying

“…Hsu, Kahn, and Hsu (2002) have stated that a Taiwanese widow is not expected to cry in front of a husband who has just died, but is allowed to openly express grief, including intense crying, later on. On the other hand, many bereaved people in quite a few African American communities show much more intense grief and emotional outbursts at funerals than European Americans (Rosenblatt & Wallace, 2005). As another example in contrast, a mother in Egypt who is immersed in deep grief for seven years over the death of a child may not be behaving pathologically if judged by the standards of her culture (Wikan, 1988).…”