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In order to explore the generalizability of perceptions of the losses experienced by grandparents raising their grandchildren, 610 traditional/ non-custodial grandparents, who had no custodial responsibility for their grandchildren, read a randomly assigned scenario depicting a grandmother and her grandchild, wherein scenarios varied in terms of grandchild gender, the presence or absence of grandchild problems, and the reason for role assumption. They then completed the Perceptions of Loss (PLS) scale, where higher scores indexed greater awareness of loss. Results suggested that perceptions of loss varied by grandchild gender (favoring females), grandchild problem (favoring those with problems), and the reason for role assumption (favoring parental abandonment and parental drug abuse). Moreover, PLS scores were influenced by the interaction between grandchild gender and reason for role assumption, where the impact of role assumption was greater for female grandchildren than for male grandchildren. These findings in part parallel those obtained from young adults, and generally suggest that others in varying degrees are sensitive to the losses grandparents raising their grandchild experience. Such findings have implications regarding the extent to which grandparent caregivers' grief is disenfranchised, as well as impacting custodial grandparents' feelings of loneliness and isolation from age peers brought about by the necessity to raise their grandchildren. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The death of a loved one requires many adults to make decisions about a variety of details regarding funeral arrangements. Based upon data collected from 348 adults (M age = 34.21) who had attended the funeral of a loved one within the last year, a scale consisting of 50 items regarding the difficulties each had experienced with regard to events prior to, during, and after the funeral, was developed. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient for this measure of difficulty was .96. Principal components analysis of these data indicated that difficulty in coping with funerals could be understood in light of six factors explaining 56% of the common variance among relationships between items: 1) protocol/mechanics of the funeral; 2) general personal and interpersonal difficulties related to the death/funeral; 3) trust in the funeral industry; 4) concerns regarding the cemetery; 5) issues pertaining to grief; and 6) post-funeral personal responsibilities. With regard to both overall difficulty and the above six factors, older adults experienced fewer difficulties, as did those who more actively participated in funeral rituals. In contrast, those who reported more personal and bereavement-related distress experienced more difficulties. Findings of the current study have value both in identifying persons for whom funerals may undermine bereavement adjustment and in identifying appropriate intervention and aftercare services for such individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined proximal and distal antecedents of funeral attitudes among 436 volunteers aged 18 to 88. Based upon a factor analysis which yielded two factors representing attitudes toward funerals, labeled Pragmatic and Emotional Impact, results suggested a multidimensional structure of funeral attitudes. As hypothesized, for both of these factors, as well as the measures defining them, proximal antecedents (e.g., grief and funeral specific variables) accounted for more unique variance in funeral attitudes than did distal antecedents (e.g., personality and sociodemographic characteristics). Implications for the funeral as an intervention in the larger context of bereavement adjustment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]