Date of Award
Summer 7-24-2020
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology (PhD)
Department
Clinical Psychology
First Advisor/Committee Member
Thane Erickson
Second Advisor/Committee Member
John Thoburn
Third Advisor/Committee Member
Jacob Bentley
Abstract
The current study utilized a cross-sectional survey design to examine the role of mindfulness and meaning-making in the development of posttraumatic growth following the death of a loved one. Participants were 232 adults (77.2% female, 85% Caucasian), ages 18 to 67 years old (M = 35.7, SD = 12.5) who had experienced the death of a loved one in the last 10 years. Preliminary analysis indicated significant positive bivariate correlations between mindfulness and meaning making (r = .39 ) and mindfulness and posttraumatic growth (r = .20 ), as well significant negative bivariate correlations between mindfulness and traumatic grief (r = -.30) and meaning-making and traumatic grief (r = -.76). A moderated mediation analysis was conducted to assess 1) the conditional direct effect of mindfulness on posttraumatic growth as a function of traumatic grief and 2) the conditional indirect effect of mindfulness on posttraumatic growth through meaning making as a function of traumatic grief. Results were partially consistent with the proposed hypotheses. The direct effect of mindfulness increased as traumatic grief increased and only became significant at high levels (+ 1 SD) of traumatic grief [b(SE) = .53(.15), p < .01]. The indirect effect of mindfulness on posttraumatic growth through meaning-making decreased as traumatic grief increased and was only significant at low levels (-1 SD) of traumatic grief [b(SE) = .10(.06),p < .01] and average levels of traumatic grief [b(SE) = .07(.04), p < .01]. Overall, results highlight the multidimensional utility of mindfulness in facilitating adaptive responses to the death of a loved one. Clinical applications and methodological limitations of the current study are reviewed, as well as directions for future research.
Recommended Citation
Williams, Honey, "Posttraumatic Growth in the Context of Grief: Testing the Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory" (2020). Clinical Psychology Dissertations. 64.
https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/cpy_etd/64
Copyright Status
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