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Grief‐related beliefs play an important role in bereavement adjustment. This study aimed to investigate the patterns and correlates of grief‐related beliefs among recently bereaved adults (n = 311). Latent class analysis results suggested three meaningful grief belief classes could be identified: the High grief belief class (24.1%), Predominantly counterfactual thoughts class (42.4%), and Low belief class (33.4%). Members in the High grief belief class reported the highest levels of grief symptoms, depression and PTSD symptoms, loneliness, and functional impairment. Compared with the Low belief class, unmarried people, people in poor health, individuals who lost parents, partners, or children, and those who experienced violent or unexpected death were more likely to belong to the High grief belief class. Findings of this study support the importance of examining grief‐related cognitions in research and clinical practice, especially counterfactual thoughts about the death, which may need to be specifically screened and targeted in treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bereavement during the COVID‐19 pandemic may have some unique characteristics that become potential risk factors (e.g., absence of grief rituals, no opportunity to say goodbye to the deceased and loneliness caused by social distancing) for acute grief. Avoidance processes could be significant mediators in the context of the pandemic. The current study aimed to investigate whether and how these COVID‐19‐related risk factors were related to acute grief severity. Bereaved adults (n = 319) who lost significant others during the COVID‐19 pandemic completed a self‐report questionnaire package measuring COVID‐19‐related factors, grief severity and depressive and anxious avoidance. Regression analyses suggested that among the three potential risk factors (loneliness, grief rituals and opportunity to say goodbye), loneliness was significantly associated with acute grief after controlling for basic demographic and loss‐related information. Structural equation models suggested that depressive avoidance and anxious avoidance partially mediated the associations of loneliness with acute grief severity. The findings indicate that dealing with loss during the COVID‐19 pandemic warrants further exploration concerning how potential environmental risk factors may impede adaptation to loss. Depressive and anxious avoidance processes may play important roles in grief interventions for isolated and lonely bereaved people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The death of a family member affects not only individual family members but also their relationships and interactions. Grief has been studied mostly as an intrapersonal experience. Adopting the family perspective, this systematic scoping review focused on parent–child relationships in widowed families so as to identify what is already known on this topic and the research gaps for future study. The review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA‐ScR) guidelines. Four databases (Web of Science, Psycinfo, PubMed, and CINAHL Plus) were searched. Search terms were combinations of two concepts: (1) loss of a parent (20 terms) and (2) parent–child (eight terms). 5,419 studies were identified during the search, of which 36 studies were included in the review following two rounds of screening. Four research themes emerged, and the aggregated findings were identified: (a) The surviving parent and children are likely to become closer following the loss of a parent, while other relevant factors need to be taken into account; (b) Better parent–child relationships play a protective role in children's adjustment to loss; (c) The surviving parent and children's adjustment to loss are interdependent; (d) Through parenting, communication style, coping strategy, and other attributes, the surviving parent can influence their children's adjustment. Gender and age differences were identified in parent–child relationships. The findings further justify the importance of a family perspective when conducting research and practice on bereavement. Several research gaps were identified. Existing studies paid insufficient attention to children's agency and bidirectional relationships, and the interaction process and its role underlying parent–child bidirectional causality. A conceptual framework of parent–child relationships in widowed families is proposed based on these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diverse pigmentation patterns of flower corollas probably result from pollinator-mediated selection. Previous studies demonstrated that R2R3- MYB factors may have been recruited in the regulation of corolla pigmentation. However, how R2R3-MYBs became so diverse in their regulation of different pigmentation patterns remains unclear., Here, we studied a Lamiales species, Torenia fournieri, which has elaborate zygomorphic flowers with dorsal-ventral asymmetries in corolla pigmentation. We found recent gene duplication events in CYCLOIDEA-like ( CYC-like) and RADIALIS-like ( RAD-like) genes, and functionally analyzed three dorsal-specific expression factors: Tf CYC1, Tf CYC2, and Tf RAD1., We found that the CYC- RAD module coordinates petal shape and corolla pigmentation, as ectopic expression of Tf CYC2 or Tf RAD1 disrupted the asymmetric corolla pigmentation pattern and produced strongly dorsalized flowers. Dorsal petal identity was lost when Tf CYC2 was down-regulated or when Tf RAD1 was knocked out. In T. fournieri, the diversified CYC and RAD genes have evolved regulatory loops, and Tf CYC2 binds directly to the regulatory regions of an R2R3- MYB factor gene, Tf MYB1, which might lead to its asymmetric expression and ultimately establish the asymmetric pigmentation pattern., These findings support the existence of a regulatory module that integrates dorsal-ventral patterning and asymmetric corolla pigmentation in T. fournieri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]