Grief Experiences Among Female American and Arab Undergraduate College Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the incidence of grief among American and Arab female undergraduate students, the effects of their grief, and risk of prolonged grief disorder. A total of 471 female undergraduate students, 308 (65.4%) from the United Arab Emirates and 163 (34.6%) from the United States, completed a survey about their grief experiences. Students experiencing a significant loss also completed the Prolonged Grief Disorder Questionnaire. Findings revealed that overall approximately 38.4% (n = 181) of all 471 students experienced the loss of a significant person in their lives within the past 24 months; a similar percentage was found in each sub group. Students reported various grief effects with American students experiencing more effects related to sleep, relationships, academics, physical well-being, religion/spirituality, and outlook on life than Arab students. Only a small number (10, 5.52%) of students met the criteria for prolonged grief disorder; however, most students were female Arab students. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research are provided.

Prolonged grief disorder in Arabic-speaking treatment-seeking populations: Relationship with socio-demographic aspects, loss- and trauma-related characteristics, and mental health support

“…Indeed, Lundorff et al ( 1 ) even showed that the PG-13 used in our study was associated with lower PGD rates (3.2%) compared to other diagnostic tools. Moreover, the prevalence in the present sample is also higher than that reported in other Arabic-speaking samples [15.1% in refugees in a camp in Jordan, ( 7 ); 12% in bereaved Saudi Arabian undergraduate students, ( 5 ); 5% in female university students in the United Arab Emirates, ( 6 )]. This discrepancy might be explained by the fact that our sample was treatment-seeking, meaning that the participants were already aware of their mental health problems and thus actively seeking help, albeit not specifically for PGD.…”

Prevalence of prolonged grief disorder in adult bereavement: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Regarding gender, women comprised the majority of study participants, as an average of 62.1% was female. Single study mean age ranged from 21 (Varga et al, 2015) to 74.5 years (Byrne and Raphael, 1994) and the overall mean age was 52.2 years (SD=15.2). Participants' relation to the deceased varied with the most common types of losses being spousal (34.72%) and parental (27.65%) bereavement.…”

“…Six studies scored 7 or 8 points (Fujisawa et al, 2010;He et al, 2014;Kim et al, 2015;Li and Prigerson, 2016;O'Connor et al, 2010;Prigerson et al, 2009), which corresponds to a moderate RoB. The remaining four studies scored 6 or less points (Byrne and Raphael, 1994;Goldsmith et al, 2008;Middleton et al, 1996;Varga et al, 2015) and were consequently labelled as high RoB. The studies' RoB scores ranged from 5 to 10 out of 10 possible points (M=7.5, SD=1.5).…”

Prolonged Grief Disorder and Its Relationship With Perceived Social Support and Depression Among University Students

“…In addition, Varga, McClam, and Hassane (2015) identifi ed grief experiences among American and Arab female undergraduate students to compare the incidence of grief, the effects of grief, and risk of PGD. In total, 471 students (308 [65.4%] from the United Arab Emirates and 163 [34.6%] from the United States) completed a survey relating to their grief experiences.…”

“…Female students in the current study had higher PGD scores than their male counterparts, but no clear reason for this difference was seen. Given the differences in grief effects between female American and Arab students found by Varga et al (2015), it may be that cultural issues are at play, particularly in a country such as Saudi Arabia, which is characterized by a male-dominated society. This fi nding will require additional investigation.…”