Ethical Bonds Transformation in Bereaved Taiwanese Families: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Ethical bonds transformation is a cultural phenomenon in Taiwanese bereaved families. When the death event occurs, the absent status of the deceased invokes spontaneous change in whole family to cope with the irreparable loss. In the present study, 283 bereaved individuals were recruited to develop the ethical bonds transformation scale. Exploratory factor analysis has generated two factors: ethical bonds and symbolic bonds. Partial correlation has shown that ethical bonds was positively correlated with post-grief growth and negatively correlated with most of the grief related symptoms, indicating that ethical bonds might be a protective factor in the family grief process.