The association between one’s social life and symptoms of prolonged grief following a traumatic loss: an ecological momentary assessment study
Background: A strong social safety net may play a key role in protecting people from developing prolonged grief disorder (PGD) after a traumatic loss. This has mainly been investigated cross-sectionally, whereby people usually report on their social life and PGD reactions during the past month. Howe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Psychotraumatology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20008066.2025.2515705 |
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| author | Philippa Specker Justina Pociūnaitė-Ott Ariela Lev Rosenblum Sofia Marcolini Pascale Waschnig Christopher Magoon Annie-Lori Joseph Lieke C. J. Nijborg Xi Pan Lonneke I. M. Lenferink |
| author_facet | Philippa Specker Justina Pociūnaitė-Ott Ariela Lev Rosenblum Sofia Marcolini Pascale Waschnig Christopher Magoon Annie-Lori Joseph Lieke C. J. Nijborg Xi Pan Lonneke I. M. Lenferink |
| author_sort | Philippa Specker |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: A strong social safety net may play a key role in protecting people from developing prolonged grief disorder (PGD) after a traumatic loss. This has mainly been investigated cross-sectionally, whereby people usually report on their social life and PGD reactions during the past month. However, retrospectively recalling experiences is prone to recall bias.Objective: As such, we investigated the associations between pleasantness of social interactions and PGD reactions in traumatically bereaved people using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA).Methods: People whose loved one died due to homicide, suicide, or accident at least 12 months earlier (N = 36, 78% women, Mage = 56, 47% met PGD criteria) received smartphone-based surveys five times per day for two weeks. Surveys included questions about PGD intensity (e.g. ‘In the past 3 hours, did you yearn for your loved one?’ 0 = not at all, 6 = extremely) and their quality of social life (e.g. ‘In the past 3 hours, how did you find being with others?’ 0 = very unpleasant, 6 = very pleasant). Linear mixed models were used.Results: Based on 2520 measurement occasions, we found that when a person enjoyed their social life more than usual, they grieved less (B = −0.141, SE = 0.020, p < .001). However, whether a person’s social life was more or less pleasant than their peers was not related to their PGD levels.Conclusions: This EMA study highlights the importance of accounting for individual variability in grief reactions after loss and highlights the potential utility of strengthening one’s social safety net as a way to reduce the burden of PGD. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5c593f0a874e4614a4569a6db1dda77e |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2000-8066 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Psychotraumatology |
| spelling | doaj-art-5c593f0a874e4614a4569a6db1dda77e2025-08-20T02:21:30ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEuropean Journal of Psychotraumatology2000-80662025-12-0116110.1080/20008066.2025.2515705The association between one’s social life and symptoms of prolonged grief following a traumatic loss: an ecological momentary assessment studyPhilippa Specker0Justina Pociūnaitė-Ott1Ariela Lev Rosenblum2Sofia Marcolini3Pascale Waschnig4Christopher Magoon5Annie-Lori Joseph6Lieke C. J. Nijborg7Xi Pan8Lonneke I. M. Lenferink9School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaDepartment of Psychology, Health & Technology, Faculty of Behavioural Management and Social Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, The NetherlandsDepartment of Community Mental Health, University of Haifa, Haifa, IsraelDepartment of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The NetherlandsSchool of Human and Social Sciences, Psychology, University of West London, London, UKHarvard Medical School, Boston, USADepartment of Psychology, Suffolk University, Boston, MA, USADepartment of Psychology, Health & Technology, Faculty of Behavioural Management and Social Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, The NetherlandsDepartment of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Columbia University, New York, USADepartment of Psychology, Health & Technology, Faculty of Behavioural Management and Social Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, The NetherlandsBackground: A strong social safety net may play a key role in protecting people from developing prolonged grief disorder (PGD) after a traumatic loss. This has mainly been investigated cross-sectionally, whereby people usually report on their social life and PGD reactions during the past month. However, retrospectively recalling experiences is prone to recall bias.Objective: As such, we investigated the associations between pleasantness of social interactions and PGD reactions in traumatically bereaved people using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA).Methods: People whose loved one died due to homicide, suicide, or accident at least 12 months earlier (N = 36, 78% women, Mage = 56, 47% met PGD criteria) received smartphone-based surveys five times per day for two weeks. Surveys included questions about PGD intensity (e.g. ‘In the past 3 hours, did you yearn for your loved one?’ 0 = not at all, 6 = extremely) and their quality of social life (e.g. ‘In the past 3 hours, how did you find being with others?’ 0 = very unpleasant, 6 = very pleasant). Linear mixed models were used.Results: Based on 2520 measurement occasions, we found that when a person enjoyed their social life more than usual, they grieved less (B = −0.141, SE = 0.020, p < .001). However, whether a person’s social life was more or less pleasant than their peers was not related to their PGD levels.Conclusions: This EMA study highlights the importance of accounting for individual variability in grief reactions after loss and highlights the potential utility of strengthening one’s social safety net as a way to reduce the burden of PGD.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20008066.2025.2515705GrieftraumabereavementlossEcological Momentary Assessmentexperience sampling |
| spellingShingle | Philippa Specker Justina Pociūnaitė-Ott Ariela Lev Rosenblum Sofia Marcolini Pascale Waschnig Christopher Magoon Annie-Lori Joseph Lieke C. J. Nijborg Xi Pan Lonneke I. M. Lenferink The association between one’s social life and symptoms of prolonged grief following a traumatic loss: an ecological momentary assessment study European Journal of Psychotraumatology Grief trauma bereavement loss Ecological Momentary Assessment experience sampling |
| title | The association between one’s social life and symptoms of prolonged grief following a traumatic loss: an ecological momentary assessment study |
| title_full | The association between one’s social life and symptoms of prolonged grief following a traumatic loss: an ecological momentary assessment study |
| title_fullStr | The association between one’s social life and symptoms of prolonged grief following a traumatic loss: an ecological momentary assessment study |
| title_full_unstemmed | The association between one’s social life and symptoms of prolonged grief following a traumatic loss: an ecological momentary assessment study |
| title_short | The association between one’s social life and symptoms of prolonged grief following a traumatic loss: an ecological momentary assessment study |
| title_sort | association between one s social life and symptoms of prolonged grief following a traumatic loss an ecological momentary assessment study |
| topic | Grief trauma bereavement loss Ecological Momentary Assessment experience sampling |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20008066.2025.2515705 |
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