A social constructionist account of grief: loss and the narration of meaning.

In contrast to dominant Western conceptions of bereavement in largely intrapsychic terms, the authors argue that grief or mourning is not primarily an interior process, but rather one that is intricately social, as the bereaved commonly seek meaning in this unsought transition in not only personal and familial, but also broader community and even cultural spheres. The authors therefore advocate a social constructionist model of grieving in which the narrative processes by which meanings are found, appropriated, or assembled occur at least as fully between people as within them. In this view, mourning is a situated interpretive and communicative activity charged with establishing the meaning of the deceased's life and death, as well as the postdeath status of the bereaved within the broader community concerned with the loss. They describe this multilevel phenomenon drawing first on psychological research on individual self-narratives that organize life experience into plot structures that display some level of consistency over time, whose viability is then negotiated in the intimate interpersonal domain of family and close associates. Second, they explore public communication, including eulogies, grief accounts in popular literature, and elegies. All of these discourses construct the identity of the deceased as he or she was, and as she or he is now in the individual and communal continuing bonds with the deceased. Finally, they consider different cultural contexts to see how expressions of grief are policed to ensure their coherence with the prevailing social and political order. That is, the meanings people find through the situated interpretive and communicative activity that is grieving must either be congruent with the meanings that undergird the larger context or represent an active form of resistance against them.

Illustrating an integrated typology of meaning reconstruction in discourse: grief-related disclosures.

A typology of meaning reconstruction in grief-related discourse is offered as an extension to extant approaches to meaning making as a factor in relieving distress. Sensemaking, acceptance or resignation without understanding, realization of benefits via positive reappraisal, and realignment of roles and relationships are advanced as the 4 types of meaning reconstruction that are formed by the 4 intersections of Park's ( 2010 ) categorical distinctions in meaning making (i.e., searching for comprehensibility/searching for significance and assimilation/accommodation). Interpretive analysis of grief-related texts from an emotional disclosure study reveals 25 themes across the 4 types. Related theoretical insights and practical implications are discussed.

Do grief self-help books convey contemporary perspectives on grieving?

Grief therapy and psychology literatures of the modern Western world conceptualized bereavement and grief as processes to be "worked through" so that other relationships could be pursued. In the last decade or so, however, grief theorists have endorsed the value of attaining new meaning(s) and continuing bonds with our lost loved ones instead of "moving on from," "letting go of" or "achieving closure from" them. This article tracks the evolution of thought pertaining to this shift and examines its relevance to grief self-help books that may offer Americans guidance in the ways of grieving.

Social control of healthy behavior between intimate college students.

OBJECTIVE: The author examined whether the type of intimacy (i.e., emotional, intellectual, sexual, social, recreational) featured in college students' romantic relationships affects the extent to which a partner's health-related behavior may be influenced by a variety of behavior change appeals. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and thirteen female and 94 male college students were surveyed. METHODS: A questionnaire sought demographic information and included 2 scales to determine intimacy type levels and estimated responses to behavior change appeals. RESULTS: It was determined that emotional and intellectual intimacy had the greatest effects on compliance estimates. The liking strategy was rated as generally most effective, whereas caring fared better in highly intimate relationships, and both threat and responsibility appeals functioned better in relationships featuring lower levels of intimacy. CONCLUSIONS: When appropriately qualified as initial findings, the outcomes may suggest routes to successfully inspiring particular health behavior changes, especially among partners in emotionally and intellectually intimate relationships.

"Let's (not) talk about that": bridging the past sexual experiences taboo to build healthy romantic relationships.

Research has shown that individuals in romantic relationships often avoid discussing past sexual experiences. To ascertain whether past relationships and past sexual experiences were considered to be "taboo," 102 individuals involved in romantic relationships were asked to list the topics that they were reluctant to discuss with their partners. As past relationships and past sexual experiences were reported as topics often avoided, responses to an open-ended questionnaire were coded to determine: (a) the reasons individuals give for avoiding talk about past sexual experiences and (b) whether there are sex differences in how often those reasons appeared in responses. In descending order of prevalence, respondents reported that they tend to avoid discussing past sexual experiences due to four main concerns: (a) belief that the past should be kept in the past, (b) identity issues, (c) perceived threats to their relationships, and (d) emotionally upsetting feelings. Men and women displayed extreme similarity in the frequency with which they indicated particular reasons for avoidance. Data-inspired suggestions for individuals hoping to elicit discussion of past sexual experiences with partners are offered.

The grief account: dimensions of a contemporary bereavement genre.

The genre of the grief account is identified to include published narratives of surviving grief. Thematic analysis of Andrew Holleran's (2006) Grief: A Novel, Lolly Winston's (2004) Good Grief: A Novel, Joan Didion's (2005) The Year of Magical Thinking, and J. Canfield and M. V. Hansen's (2003) Chicken Soup for the Grieving Soul: Stories About Life, Death and Overcoming the Loss of a Loved One is informed by recent scholarship regarding eulogies and illness and dying narratives. Six dimensions (restorative, evaluative, interpretive, affirmative, affective, transformative) of contemporary grief accounts are recognized as sources of inspiration for the practice and experience of bereavement.

Compliance and intimacy: young adults' attempts to motivate health-promoting behaviors by romantic partners.

Benefits of relational intimacy on health may derive from its influence on the success of verbal attempts to motivate romantic partners' compliance with suggested protective behaviors. The intimacy levels of 209 participants' romantic relationships were assessed, as were motivations to change 4 health behaviors in response to 8 appeal strategies. Intimacy had significant impacts on the estimated effectiveness of several appeals. Also, as intimacy increased, caring replaced the provision of health information as the most efficacious strategy for motivating dietary modification. Overall, appeals seeking safer sex and those employing liking, caring, and threat strategies were rated as generally most effective.

Grief, glory, and political capital in the Capitol: presidents eulogizing presidents.

Kunkel and Dennis (2003) established a framework for the examination of contemporary eulogia drawn from the comforting and social support paradigms found in psychology and communication literatures. Dennis and Kunkel (2004) applied the framework to eulogies for fallen national heroes (e.g., victims of terrorism and space shuttle astronauts) delivered by American presidents, and both illustrated its utility and noted several minor variations (e.g., presidents did not establish credibility early in speeches or portray emotion as individual experiences). The current study illuminates the nature of eulogies for past presidents by sitting presidents, and examines the eulogies of Presidents John Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan by Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, William Clinton, and George W. Bush, respectively. As highlighted by Kunkel and Dennis' framework, these eulogists accomplish many of the recognized comforting and consolation responsibilities. The presidents sometimes further their own causes and agendas when considered in hindsight, in ironic and prophetic fashion; thus, also meeting Jamieson and Campbell's (1982) definition of the rhetorical hybrid. Finally, the destiny and glory of the eulogized are often noted by eulogists, continuing the legacy that started with the death of George Washington, America' first president (Berens, 1977).

Fallen heroes, lifted hearts: consolation in contemporary Presidential eulogia.

A.D. Kunkel and M. R. Dennis (2003) demonstrated that examining texts for identified components of eulogia, as drawn from the comforting and social support paradigms found in psychology and communication literatures (i.e., credibility establishment, praise for the deceased, self-disclosure of emotion, prescriptions for problem-focused coping, promotion of positive reappraisal for emotion-focused coping, and the affirmation and continuation of relationships), is critical to understanding eulogistic phenomena. Analysis of three Presidential eulogies, as informed by the components, reveals calls for unity in President Ronald Wilson Reagan's 1986 eulogy for the Challenger space shuttle crew, suggestions for action in President William Jefferson Clinton's 1995 eulogy for USS Cole sailors, and positive reappraisal within astronauts' quotes offered by President George Walker Bush during his 2003 eulogy for the Columbia space shuttle crew.

Grief consolation in eulogy rhetoric: an integrative framework.

In an ever more deadly and uncertain world, rhetoric honoring the deceased is still examined as though that was its primary, if not only, function. Some critics of eulogia also identify the consolation of survivors but rarely define it precisely or analyze its rhetorical execution. This article introduces a framework for the critical analysis and production of eulogia that draws from comforting mechanisms recognized in the interpersonal communication, social psychology, and grief therapy literatures. Self-disclosure, problem-focused coping, positive reappraisal, and the affirmation and continuation of relationships with the deceased are shown to inform criticism of five contemporary eulogies. Challenges inherent in the invention and appreciation of eulogy rhetoric are thus illuminated and addressed.

Contemporary university students' ratings of characteristics of men, women, and CEOs.

Very few women have reached the highest echelons of corporate America, perhaps because gender stereotypes, including perceptions of women that vary from those of successful executives, block their promotion and advancement. In the current study, differences in how participants perceive similarities in characteristics of successful executives and those of both men and women were studied. The scope of the extant program of research is also extended upward in the organizational hierarchy with the operationalization of executive as "CEO" (Chief Executive Officer) rather than as "manager" or "middle-manager." While men in general continue to be likened more to successful executives than do women in general, the gaps between male and female CEOs' similarities and between successful male and female CEOs' similarities to prototypically successful executives were smaller than reported in the 1970s. Noteworthy trends regarding 92 characteristics from Schein's Descriptive Index are also discussed.