Death Studies

ISSN: 0748-1187 (Print) 1091-7683 (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/udst20

An Investigation of the Relationship of Personality,

Coping, and Grief Intensity Among Bereaved
Mothers

Tristan Robinson & Samuel J. Marwit

To cite this article: Tristan Robinson & Samuel J. Marwit (2006) An Investigation of the
Relationship of Personality, Coping, and Grief Intensity Among Bereaved Mothers, Death
Studies, 30:7, 677-696, DOI: 10.1080/07481180600776093

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Death Studies, 30: 677–696, 2006
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0748-1187 print/1091-7683 online
DOI: 10.1080/07481180600776093

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF

PERSONALITY, COPING, AND GRIEF INTENSITY
AMONG BEREAVED MOTHERS

TRISTAN ROBINSON and SAMUEL J. MARWIT

University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

A mediational model of grief intensity (Meuser & Marwit, 2000) was examined
in a population at risk for complicated grief. Coping strategies (emotion-oriented,
task-oriented, and avoidance-oriented coping) were hypothesized to mediate the
influence of personality factors (neuroticism and extraversion) on grief. Bereaved
mothers (N ¼ 138) completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Coping
Inventory for Stressful Situations, and Revised Grief Experiences Inventory. Cop-
ing strategies partially mediated the influence of personality factors on grief.
However, compared to prior findings among bereaved spouses, coping played a
weaker mediating role, and neuroticism had a stronger direct influence on grief
among bereaved mothers. Results suggest that personality and coping factors
may function differently across different loss circumstances.

The death of a loved one can not only bring sorrow, but, for many,
serious consequences for physical and mental health. Although
most people manage to cope with a loved one’s death without
the help of counseling or other mental health interventions, a sig-
nificant minority of bereaved individuals experience severe dis-
tress and impaired functioning that can last for months or years
following the loss (Arbuckle & de Vries, 1995; Lehman, Wortman,
& Williams, 1987). Complicated grief reactions can involve intense
depression, anxiety disorders, symptoms of posttraumatic stress,
vulnerability to physical illness, and premature death through ill-
ness or suicide (Jacobs & Kim, 1990; Prigerson & Jacobs, 2001;
Schliefer, Keller, Camerino, Thornton, & Stein, 1983). The loss
of a child can lead to particularly devastating and prolonged grief

Received 20 September 2005; accepted 30 March 2006.

Address correspondence to Tristan Robinson, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 325
Stadler Hall, Department of Psychology, One University Boulevard, St. Louis, MO
63121-4400, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

677
678 T. Robinson and S. J. Marwit

reactions, and has been conceptualized as a risk factor for

complicated grief (Rando, 1986; Rubin & Malkinson, 2001;
Sanders, 1980). However, bereaved parents vary in their adap-
tation to this loss. Individual differences in resilience and vulner-
ability with regard to negative bereavement outcomes among
this population thus provide a potential window into factors that
may facilitate, versus hinder, effective processing of grief within
an at-risk population.
Efforts to identify intra-individual risk factors for complicated
grief have included the search for influential personality variables,
as well as the identification of coping strategies that might mediate
between personality and grief. With regard to personality vari-
ables, it has been suggested that relatively mature or adaptive
ego structures are necessary for effective grieving to take place,
and that less adaptive traits, such as neuroticism, place individuals
at risk for complications in grieving (reviewed in Meuser &
Marwit, 2000).
The study of neuroticism has a rich history in the personality=
risk factor bereavement literature. Neuroticism is widely
accepted as a fundamental dimension of personality assessment
(Costa, Somerfield, & McCrae, 1996; Eysenck, 1975; Eysenck &
Eysenck, 1985). This broad dimension of personality is character-
ized by dispositional tendencies toward anxiety, depression, guilt,
low self-esteem, tension, irrationality, shyness, moodiness, and
emotionality (Eysenck, 1975; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985). Neuroti-
cism and linked traits have shown a clear association with heigh-
tened bereavement distress. For example, Sanders (1980) showed
that dispositional anxiety, insecurity, and emotionality character-
ized the MMPI profiles of individuals with higher levels of distress
and depression following loss. Likewise, neuroticism and trait anxi-
ety have been related to core symptoms of bereavement distress
among bereaved parents, spouses, and adult children (Middleton,
Franzp, Raphael, Burnett, & Martinek, 1997). Characteristic dis-
tress (similar to neuroticism) has been associated with higher grief
intensity in bereaved spouses (Meuser & Marwit, 2000; Meuser,
Davies, & Marwit, 1995; Vachon, 1986). Further, personality
traits related to neuroticism, such as difficulty modulating emotion,
have been conceptualized as ‘‘self-regulatory deficits’’ and
implicated in vulnerability to traumatic grief reactions (Prigerson
et al., 1997).
 Personality, Coping, and Grief 679

In a number of these studies, neuroticism has been assessed

using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ; Eysenck,
1975). The EPQ also provides a measure of extraversion, another
construct considered by some to potentially influence grief inten-
sity. Extraversion is considered a separate fundamental dimension
of personality, which consists of the tendency to be sociable, lively,
active, assertive, sensation-seeking, carefree, dominant, and ven-
turesome (Eysenck, 1975; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985). Extraversion
has been studied as a possible buffer against grief (e.g., Meuser &
Marwit, 2000), but has not proven particularly influential in deter-
mining grief intensity.
Although trait variables, especially neuroticism, have been
shown to impact grief, recent research has questioned whether this
takes place directly, or whether the personality-grief link may be
mediated by coping strategies. The issue raised is that personality
traits are widely considered to be fundamental, enduring patterns
that are relatively resistant to change (Costa, Somerfield, &
McCrae, 1996; Snyder, 1999). Therefore, in seeking ways to help
people at risk for complicated grief, it may be of greater interest
to identify the proximal mechanisms through which personality
exerts its effects on grief.
Prior research has suggested that the coping strategies indivi-
duals use to deal with loss play an important intermediate role in
determining the level of grief they experience, above and beyond
the influence of personality factors. Meuser and Marwit (2000)
investigated the role of personality factors (neuroticism and extra-
version), together with the use of particular coping strategies, in
predicting the intensity of grief reactions among a sample of
bereaved individuals that consisted primarily of widow=ers. They
found that the use of two particular strategies, task-oriented and
emotion-oriented coping, mediated the effects of these personality
variables on grief intensity, having first controlled for time since
loss and a measure of normative acceptability of the death. Task-
oriented coping, which includes such activities as defining the
problem, developing a plan of action, and acting to change objec-
tive aspects of the distressing situation (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984),
was linked to lower grief intensity. In contrast, emotion-oriented
coping, which includes efforts to lessen distressing feelings, for
example, by venting anger and frustration, seeking emotional sup-
port from others, and using cognitive reappraisal to find positive
680 T. Robinson and S. J. Marwit

meaning in negative events (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), generally

served to intensify grief.
These authors also examined the role of avoidance-oriented
coping, which includes efforts to cope with negative experiences
by seeking out social diversion or engaging in distracting activities
(Endler & Parker, 1994), but did not find this variable to be a
mediator of grief intensity. Although avoidant coping has been
associated with negative psychological adjustment to loss (Murphy,
Johnson, & Lohan, 2003; Schut, Stroebe, & Stroebe, 1999; Videka-
Sherman, 1982), others have suggested a positive effect under
certain conditions (Bonanno, Keltner, Holen, & Horowitz, 1995).
Meuser and Marwit (2000) proposed that the issue of parti-
cular coping styles and their impact on grief may be ‘‘one of pro-
portion and balance’’ (p. 388); that while both task-oriented and
emotion-oriented coping may serve important roles, a coping rep-
ertoire that includes a higher proportion of task-oriented coping
may have a buffering effect on grief, whereas higher levels of emo-
tion-oriented coping may indeed put people at greater risk for poor
adjustment. A number of other studies of bereavement (e.g.,
Dijkstra et al., 1999; Gass & Chang, 1989; Jacobs, Kasl, Schaefer,
& Ostfeld, 1994) have supported this suggestion.
The findings of Meuser and Marwit (2000) offer encouraging
support for the notion that the choice of coping strategies used by
bereaved individuals represent a more proximal, direct influence
on grief outcomes than do underlying personality factors. It is
important to note that these results do not imply that personality
is unimportant in influencing grief reactions. Rather, it is suggested
that select personality traits seem to predispose people to engage in
particular methods of coping that tend to be more or less effective
in ameliorating the intensity of grief. If replicated, this model
would provide support for viewing these coping methods as pri-
mary targets of intervention with individuals who are at risk for
complicated grief reactions.
Most research on the process of coping with loss has focused
on the loss of a spouse. There is far less empirical data on the
experience of child loss (M Stroebe & Schut, 2001). While the death
of a spouse and the death of a child both represent the loss of a
significant figure, as well as an extreme disruption in the core
themes of a person’s life (Janoff-Bulman, 1989; Rubin & Malkinson,
2001), spouses and parents may face different challenges in adjusting
 Personality, Coping, and Grief 681

to their loss (Arbuckle & de Vries, 1995; Lehman et al., 1987;

Rando, 1986). The loss of a child poses unique threats to personal
identity and meaning structures that can have a deep impact on
long-term functioning (Klass & Marwit, 1989; Rando, 1986; Rubin
& Malkinson, 2001; Sanders, 1980). The uniqueness of the chal-
lenges faced by bereaved parents has led some to argue the need
for different models of assessment and treatment (e.g., Klass & Mar-
wit, 1989; Rando, 1986). For these reasons, it is important to explore
the similarities and differences in coping across different types of
bereavement.
The present study aimed to extend Meuser and Marwit’s
(2000) mediational model, developed primarily with bereaved
widows, to a group of bereaved mothers. Since the death of one’s
child is considered to be a risk factor for developing complicated
grief reactions, this study allows a test of whether the coping and
personality factors identified by Meuser and Marwit continue to
serve the same function in relation to grief in a group of people
already at higher risk for complicated grief. If it does, then there
is support for the generalizability of findings across grief studies.
If it does not, then it highlights the need to address bereaved popu-
lations separately.
Despite potential differences in the nature of grief for bereaved
spouses and bereaved mothers, there were no a priori reasons to
expect specific differences in the role that personality and coping
variables play in grief among these populations. Indeed, based on
a comparison of data from bereaved spouses with a smaller group
of individuals who had experienced a variety of other losses,
Meuser (1997) suggested that personality and coping factors appear
to function similarly across different loss situations. Therefore, it
was hypothesized that the relationships among personality traits,
coping strategies, and grief observed among bereaved spouses
would be no different among bereaved mothers; that is, personality
traits were expected to emerge as antecedent factors in grief that
exert their main influence indirectly, through their effects on coping
variables. Specifically, it was hypothesized that:

1. Both personality (neuroticism=extraversion) and coping

(task=emotion=avoidance-oriented) variables would show
significant predictive value for grief intensity in bereaved
mothers, controlling for the effects of time since loss.
682 T. Robinson and S. J. Marwit

2. Once the specific effects of coping variables have been par-

tialled out, however, personality variables would cease to hold
significant predictive value for grief intensity.
3. Coping variables would remain significant predictors of grief
intensity above and beyond the effects of personality factors.

Method

Procedure

Data were collected in the context of a larger cross-sectional study

involving bereaved parents. Participants were recruited from sup-
port groups including The Compassionate Friends, Bereaved Par-
ents of America, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and Parents of
Murdered Children, and from private practices specializing in
pediatric oncology. Principal investigators contacted support
group facilitators and requested permission to attend meetings to
invite parents to participate in the study.1 Participants were mailed
packets containing a consent form, a demographic questionnaire,
primary instruments, and questionnaires related to the experience
of bereavement. Parents were instructed to complete each ques-
tionnaire as it applied to them at the present time.

Participants

Participants were 138 women who had experienced the loss of a

child. A total of 178 bereaved parents completed questionnaires,
with the great majority of respondents (n ¼ 141) being bereaved
mothers. Of these, three respondents were removed from the sam-
ple due to multiple omissions in their questionnaires. The final
sample consisted of 138 women with a mean age of 52
(SD ¼ 11.5). The sample was 96% Caucasian and 0.7% African–
American. The remaining 3.3% endorsed ‘‘other’’ ethnicity.
Religious affiliation among the sample was 52% Protestant, 27%
Catholic, 8% Jewish, 6% ‘‘other,’’ and 7% did not specify a

1
Unfortunately, data were not collected on the number of parents initially approached
for participation in the study, nor on the number of questionnaire packets mailed versus
returned. Therefore, it is not possible to provide data on the response rate among potential
participants.
 Personality, Coping, and Grief 683

religious preference. Participants’ highest educational attainments

were as follows: 27% high school diploma, 45% college degree,
18% graduate degree, and 7% ‘‘other.’’2 Sixty-two percent of part-
icipants reported participation in a support group.
The average length of time since the loss of a child was 6.9
years, and ranged between 3 months and 31 years (SD ¼ 7.2
years). The average age of the children at the time of death was
17.7 years (SD ¼ 8.8). Of these losses, 58.7% were the result of
accident or illness, 39.9% were due to homicide, and 1.4% were
due to suicide.

Measures

PERSONALITY
Neuroticism and extraversion were measured using the
Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ; Eysenck, 1975), a self-
report questionnaire that consists of 90 yes=no questions. The
EPQ provides three scales assessing the personality dimensions
of neuroticism, extraversion, and psychoticism. For the purposes
of the current study, only the neuroticism and extraversion scales
were analyzed.
The EPQ has been validated in a wide range of clinical and
nonclinical samples, and has shown adequate reliability (for neur-
oticism, alphas of .84 and .85 for men and women, respectively; for
extraversion, .85 and .84 for men and women, respectively;
Eysenck, 1975). Similar alphas were calculated for the present sam-
ple (.87 and .85, respectively, for neuroticism & extraversion).

COPING
Emotion-oriented, task-oriented, and avoidance-oriented
coping were assessed using the Coping Inventory for Stressful
Situations (CISS, Endler & Parker, 1990), a 48-item self-report
measure consisting of statements reflecting a range of coping activi-
ties. The questionnaire included the instructions: ‘‘The following
are ways people react to difficult, stressful, or upsetting situations.
Please read the statements and circle the number that best fits for
you. There are no right or wrong answers.’’ Examples of items
include ‘‘Focus on the problem and see how I can solve it;’’

2
Cumulative percentage < 100 due to missing data.
684 T. Robinson and S. J. Marwit

(task-oriented coping) ‘‘Worry about what I am going to do’’ (emo-

tion-oriented coping); and ‘‘Watch TV’’ (avoidance-oriented cop-
ing). Participants are asked to rate the extent to which each
coping activity applies to them on a 5-point Likert scale.
Factor analysis of the CISS has supported the consistency of
these three distinct coping dimensions across undergraduate, gen-
eral adult, and adult psychiatric samples (Parker & Endler, 1992).
Each of the subscales has shown good reliability, with the following
alpha coefficients reported from a sample of 471 males and 771
females: task- oriented coping, r ¼ .90; emotion-oriented coping,
r ¼ .87; and avoidance-oriented coping, r ¼ .85 (Parker & Endler,
1992). Reliability coefficients obtained with the current sample
were: task-oriented coping, r ¼ .92; emotion- oriented coping,
r ¼ .90; and avoidance-oriented coping, r ¼ .76.

GRIEF INTENSITY
Grief intensity was measured using the Revised Grief Experi-
ence Inventory (RGEI; Lev, Munro, & McCorkle, 1993), a 22-item
self-report measure consisting of items that assess a range of
grief-related experiences: emotional distress=depression (6 items),
physical distress (7 items), existential concerns (6 items), and
tension=guilt (3 items). The RGEI is a shortened scale that was
designed to improve upon the psychometric properties of the orig-
inal 135-item Grief Experiences Inventory, which consisted of
dichotomous (yes=no) items that produced little variability in
responses among bereaved individuals (Lev et al., 1993). In con-
trast, the RGEI asks participants to rate the extent to which they
agree or disagree with statements related to grieving according to
a 6-point Likert scale. Examples of items include, ‘‘I tend to be
more irritable with others since the death of my loved one;’’ ‘‘I
cry easily;’’ ‘‘Sometimes I have a strong desire to scream;’’ and
‘‘Life has lost its meaning for me.’’
The full RGEI scale has demonstrated good reliability (alphas
between .88 and .93; Lev et al., 1993; Meuser & Marwit, 2000). In
the present study, total RGEI score was selected for analysis in
favor of individual RGEI subscales due to its greater reliability.
Alpha coefficients for the individual subscales have been reported
to range from .72 for the tension=guilt subscale to .87 for the
existential concerns subscales (Lev et al., 1993). In the present
study, alpha for the RGEI full scale was .96.
 Personality, Coping, and Grief 685

Results

Methodological Considerations

A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted, with

predictor variables divided into three ordered blocks: time since
loss; personality variables; and coping variables.3 The amount of
time since the loss was entered first into the regression to control
for the effects of time passage on grief. Personality variables were
entered into the regression next, before the coping variables,
because personality traits are considered to be long-standing,
stable characteristics that predate the loss and the immediate cop-
ing responses (Meuser & Marwit, 2000). The coping variables of
task-oriented, emotion- oriented, and avoidance-oriented coping
were entered as the third and final block in the regression.4 Corre-
lational analyses were also examined to explore the relationships
among personality, coping, and grief variables.
Prior to analysis, study variables were examined through vari-
ous SPSS programs for accuracy of data entry, missing values, and
fit between their distributions and the assumptions of multivariate
analysis. A number of participants had missing values on items
from the personality, coping, and grief scale measures. In order
to preserve their data, missing item values were imputed for each
individual with missing items, based on the individual’s average
score for the completed items in the relevant scale. This procedure
allows a more accurate estimation of missing values than relying on
mean scale scores across participants. The variable of time since

3
A discrepancy between the present study and that of Meuser and Marwit (2000) is that
two variables, normative acceptability of the death and threat appraisal, were not measured
as part of the data collection among bereaved parents.
4
A fourth block of predictors involving interactions between personality and coping
variables was initially included in Meuser and Marwit’s (2000) regression model. However,
in Meuser and Marwit’s study, including these interaction variables resulted in degradation
of the model’s overall prediction, a problem that they attributed to either low statistical
power or multicolinearity between interaction variables. In the present study, personality
x coping interactions were included in an initial regression run to test whether this problem
might be eliminated in the context of the current, larger sample. Unfortunately, the same
problem of degradation of the model occurred. Therefore, the interaction variables were
excluded from the final analysis (see Meuser, 1997 for a discussion of this statistical
dilemma).
686 T. Robinson and S. J. Marwit

TABLE 1 Descriptive Statistics of Regression Model Variables

Variable Mean Standard deviation Range

Grief intensity (RGEI) 75.94 29.37 22–127

Time since loss (in months) 83.13 85.83 3–372
Neuroticism 12.97 5.43 1–22
Extraversion 11.52 4.93 1–21
Emotion-oriented coping 43.24 12.03 16–74
Task-oriented coping 56.53 11.22 19–80
Avoidance-oriented coping 44.85 9.29 19–72

loss was found to be extremely positively skewed and was logarith-

mically transformed prior to analysis.

Descriptive Statistics

Table 1 presents means and standard deviations for the regression

model variables, and Table 2 shows the intercorrelations among
these variables. The variables of time since loss, extraversion, task-
oriented coping, and avoidance-oriented coping were associated
with lower levels of grief, whereas neuroticism and emotion-
oriented coping were associated with higher levels of grief. Consist-
ent with initial requirements for the presence of a mediating
relationship, personality variables showed significant correlations

TABLE 2 Intercorrelations Among Regression Model Variables

Variable RGEI TSL N E EOC TOC AOC

RGEI —
0.36 0.73
0.37 0.66
0.36
0.18

TSL —
0.19 0.01
0.27 0.24
0.07
 
N —
0.44 0.72
0.32
0.12

E —
0.36 0.39 0.21
EOC —
0.38
0.02
TOC — 0.07
AOC —

Note. RGEI ¼ Revised Grief Experience Inventory, total score; TSL ¼ Time Since Loss;
N ¼ Neuroticism; E ¼ Extraversion; EOC ¼ Emotion-oriented Coping; TOC ¼ Task-oriented
Coping; AOC ¼ Avoidance-oriented Coping.

p < .05,  p < .01,  p < .001.
 Personality, Coping, and Grief 687

with grief intensity and with coping variables, and coping variables
in turn showed significant correlations with grief intensity.

Regression Results

Results of a hierarchical multiple regression analysis are presented

in Table 3. Overall, the model accounted for a significant amount
of the variation in grief intensity that was, furthermore, quite large
(adjusted R2 in Step 3 ¼ 0.61, or 61% of the variance in RGEI rat-
ings, p < .001). In the final step of the regression, time since loss,
neuroticism, emotion-oriented coping, and avoidance-oriented
coping emerged as significant predictors of grief intensity. Neuroti-
cism and emotion-oriented coping each contributed to predicting
higher levels of grief (b for neuroticism in Step 3 ¼ 0.49,
p < .001; b for emotion-oriented coping ¼ 0.22, p < .01), whereas
avoidance-oriented coping carried a small but significant amount
of weight in predicting lower levels of grief (b ¼
0.11, p < .05).
As outlined below, this pattern of results was partially, but not
entirely, consistent with the study hypotheses.

TABLE 3 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting

Grief Intensity

Variable B SE B b

Step 1
Log of time since loss
21.54 4.85
0.36
Step 2
Log of time since loss
13.99 3.42
0.23
Neuroticism 3.51 0.34 0.65
Extraversion
0.51 0.37
0.09
Step 3
Log of time since loss
12.13 3.45
0.20
Neuroticism 2.66 0.44 0.49
Extraversion
0.22 0.38
0.04
Emotion-oriented coping 0.53 0.20 0.22
Task-oriented coping
0.12 0.16
0.04
Avoidance-oriented coping
0.36 0.18
0.11

Note. Adjusted R2 ¼ .12 for Step 1; DR2 ¼ .46 for Step 2 (ps < .001); DR2 ¼ .03 for Step 3
(p < .01).

p < .001,  p < .01,  p < .05.
688 T. Robinson and S. J. Marwit

HYPOTHESIS 1
The first hypothesis predicted that both personality and coping
variables would contribute significantly to the prediction of grief
intensity among bereaved mothers, controlling for time since loss.
The regression results were in accord with this hypothesis. As can
be seen in Table 3, the adjusted R2 values were statistically significant
at each step of the model. These adjusted R2 values are quite large
and indicate that approximately 60% of the variance in grief inten-
sity was predicted by the combination of predictor variables in the
final model. In addition, each of the incremental R2 values was
statistically significant, indicating that both personality and coping
variable blocks contributed to this predictive power.

HYPOTHESIS 2
The second hypothesis concerns the expectation that person-
ality variables will cease to carry significant predictive weight in
the regression once coping variables are taken into account. As
can be seen in Table 3, this hypothesis was not fully supported
by the results. Although the Beta weights for neuroticism and
extraversion were indeed reduced by adding the coping variables
to the model, the predictive power of neuroticism, which was the
only personality factor to have significant predictive power in Step
2, was not eliminated. Rather, it remained a strong and significant
predictor of grief intensity in the presence of the other predictors
(b ¼ 0.49, p < .001).

HYPOTHESIS 3
The last hypothesis relates to the role of the coping variables in
predicting grief intensity. Coping variables were expected to show
significant predictive weight when entered into the regression
following personality factors, indicating that coping predicts grief
intensity above and beyond the variance that coping shares with
personality factors. This was indeed found to be the case for both
emotion-oriented coping and avoidance-oriented coping. Emo-
tion-oriented coping emerged as a moderately strong predictor of
grief intensity (b ¼ 0.22, p < .01), above and beyond the influence
of the personality factors. As such, emotion-oriented coping
appeared to be the variable primarily responsible for mediating
the influence of the personality factors in the final regression.
Although avoidance-oriented coping predicted a statistically
 Personality, Coping, and Grief 689

reliable amount of variance in the final model, the strength of this

predictor was rather small (b ¼
0.11, p ¼ .04). Task-oriented cop-
ing was not found to be a significant predictor of grief intensity in
this model (b ¼ 0.04, ns).

Supplementary Analyses: Comparison of Study Variables by

Type of Loss

A multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to assess

whether the characteristics of time since loss, personality and cop-
ing variables, and grief intensity differed for participants who had
lost a child to death by homicide versus other causes. Following a
significant multivariate test (F (7, 130) ¼ 6.798, p ¼ .000), between-
subjects analysis revealed that time since loss differed between
these groups, with greater time having elapsed since homicide
deaths (M ¼ 10.5 years; SD ¼ 7.5 years) than deaths to other
causes (M ¼ 4.5 years; SD ¼ 5.8 years, F (1, 136) ¼ 42.5,
p ¼ .000). No other variables differed significantly across type of
loss. A multivariate analysis of covariance was also performed with
time since loss as a covariate and showed no significant differences
between the groups after controlling for the effects of time.5

Discussion

The present study was designed to assess the relationship of the

personality variables of neuroticism and extraversion and the
coping variables of task-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoid-
ance-oriented coping to grief intensity in a sample of bereaved
mothers. Earlier research (Meuser & Marwit, 2000) investigating
these same variables with a predominant widow=er sample found
that the use of task-oriented and emotion-oriented coping
mediated the influence of neuroticism on grief intensity. Since
the bereavement literature cautions against overgeneralization, it
seemed important to determine whether Meuser and Marwit’s
findings would apply to other populations.
In the present study, the focus was specifically on bereaved
mothers. Further research is needed to determine the impact of these
5
Deaths due to suicide did not represent a large enough group for separate statistical
comparison; however, results of analyses that combined suicide and homicide deaths
compared to other types of loss did not differ from the pattern reported above.
690 T. Robinson and S. J. Marwit

variables on bereaved fathers. In the present research, bereaved

fathers were invited to participate, but their sample size proved to
be insufficient for meaningful statistical comparisons. This is not
atypical of the bereaved parent literature, which turns out to be prim-
arily mother dominated. Although combining bereaved mothers and
fathers is often done, it seemed prudent not to do so here, both
given the relatively small number of bereaved fathers and given
the literature on gender differences in patterns of grief (e.g., Sidmore,
2000; Shut, Stroebe, van den Bout, & Ternheggen, 2001).
The study’s first hypothesis, derived from Meuser and
Marwit’s (2000) findings, was that both personality and coping fac-
tors would aid in predicting grief intensity beyond the prediction
afforded by time alone. Despite the relatively weaker predictive
power of the coping variables in the present study, this hypothesis
was indeed supported. This finding establishes a basis for consider-
ing the influence of both personality traits and coping strategies in
the grief reactions of bereaved mothers.
The main hypotheses of the study predicted that the person-
ality variables would cease to carry predictive weight in the
presence of the coping variables, which in turn would emerge as
significant predictors of grief intensity. In other words, it was
hypothesized that coping variables would mediate the influence
of personality factors on grief intensity. The present findings
appear to offer only qualified support for such a mediating relation-
ship. Rather than conforming to a full mediational model, such that
coping variables fully account for the effects of personality factors
on grief, the data for bereaved mothers indicate that the strong
predictive power of neuroticism continued to surface even after
coping variables were taken into account.
In seeking to understand why the mediational model did not
fare as well among bereaved mothers as it did in Meuser and
Marwit’s (2000) analysis of a mixed gender, predominant
widow=er sample, it is tempting to speculate about the potential
impact of the samples’ gender composition on the patterns
observed. Could it be that the effects of personality on grief are
more closely tied to intermediary use of coping responses among
men than among women? This hypothesis, while intriguing, could
not be directly evaluated in the present study.
Another explanation for the difference between the present
findings and those of Meuser and Marwit (2000) relates to the
 Personality, Coping, and Grief 691

exclusion of the variable ‘‘normative acceptability of the death’’

from the regression. This variable, a composite measure that com-
bined data on the child’s age with self-reported ratings of the extent
to which participants appraised the loss as unacceptable (Meuser,
1997), accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in
grief intensity in Meuser and Marwit’s (2000) data. Unfortunately,
the available data from bereaved mothers did not include this vari-
able. It is possible that excluding this predictor was responsible for
discrepancies in the overall pattern of regression results between
these studies. If this predictor shared a large amount of variance
with neuroticism, excluding it from the regression may have con-
tributed to the greater predictive power for neuroticism observed
among the current sample of bereaved mothers.
In an effort to tease apart this potential confound, a sup-
plementary analysis was conducted using a subsample of bereaved
widows (N ¼ 67) from Meuser and Marwit’s (2000) sample. Predic-
tor variables were regressed on grief intensity, with normative
acceptability and threat appraisal variables excluded from the
equation. Results of this analysis suggested that the failure to
account for variations in normative acceptability of the death in
the current study might indeed have contributed to the greater
direct influence of neuroticism on grief intensity. After excluding
the normative acceptability variable, coping factors only partially
mediated the effects of neuroticism on grief (Beta for neuroticism
in Step 2 ¼ .42, p < .001; Beta in Step 3 ¼ .27, p < .05) in this sub-
sample. However, it is worth noting that the predictive strength of
neuroticism at each step of the model remained markedly lower
among this widows subsample, in contrast to the parallel values
of b among bereaved mothers. Unfortunately, low statistical power
prevents formal conclusions from being drawn from this sup-
plementary analysis of widows. However, the data offer at least
some support for the suggestion that neuroticism indeed func-
tioned differently in the prediction of grief among bereaved
mothers than in parallel analyses among bereaved spouses.
It is notable that grief intensity among mothers who had lost a
child to homicide remained comparable to levels of grief associa-
ted with deaths from other causes, despite a mean difference of
six years in elapsed time since the loss. This finding is consistent
with literature suggesting that homicide deaths involve particularly
prolonged and intense grief reactions.
692 T. Robinson and S. J. Marwit

Given that the current sample of bereaved mothers included a

large number of deaths due to homicide, it seemed important to
consider an alternate explanation of the data, namely, that the high
correlations between neuroticism and grief intensity in the present
study might reflect an underlying dimension of grief-related
emotional distress. If so, the variable of neuroticism may have
served as an unintended proxy variable for grief. Although neuroti-
cism is conceptualized as a trait variable, it is also possible that it is
sensitive to state-related variations in emotional distress. Unfortu-
nately, the correlational nature of the study does not allow for
definitive conclusions to be drawn regarding the direction of such
influences. However, data were at least consistent with the notion
that neuroticism scores captured the intended construct, in that
these scores did not differ between mothers bereaved by homicide
versus other causes. Given that grief intensity scores also did not
differ between these groups, however, a proxy interpretation can-
not be ruled out on the basis of this analysis.
Consistent with Meuser and Marwit’s (2000) findings from a
predominant widow=er sample, extraversion seems to have little
or no impact on the level of grief experienced by bereaved
mothers. Task-oriented coping, the other variable examined as a
potential buffer of grief intensity, was correlated with lower levels
of grief. However, after accounting for personality factors, this vari-
able failed to ameliorate grief levels. Given a high level of neuroti-
cism, greater use of task-oriented coping did not have a significant
impact on grief among bereaved mothers. This suggests the possi-
bility that task-oriented coping strategies may simply have more
limited efficacy when it comes to dealing with especially devastat-
ing losses, such as the death of one’s child. Alternately, the limited
impact of task-oriented coping in this context may have been a
result of the strong direct influence of neuroticism on grief inten-
sity. That is, given a particularly devastating loss, it is possible that
an underlying neurotic personality style puts one at risk for compli-
cations in grief that are not easily attributable to coping activities.
Either way, the data provide little support for viewing task-oriented
coping as a robust buffer against grief in this population.
Taken together, the present findings suggest that there may
be important dissimilarities in the respective roles played by
personality and coping factors in predicting grief intensity across
different bereavement circumstances, and highlights the importance
 Personality, Coping, and Grief 693

of studying different bereaved populations separately. Although it is

clear that the related factors of neuroticism and emotion-oriented
coping each play a role in heightening grief intensity, neuroticism
appears to play a greater direct role in this equation for bereaved
mothers. Whereas previous findings offered support for the thera-
peutic targeting of select coping strategies used by bereaved indivi-
duals, the current findings seem to suggest that such an approach
would be remiss if it did not also address neuroticism as an important
risk factor in this population.
Several further limitations of the current study must be taken
into consideration in interpreting these findings. As noted, the
current sample included a disproportionate number of Caucasian,
highly educated individuals, most of whom were actively partici-
pating in support groups. Thus, the generalizability of these
findings to other diverse groups that were not represented is
unknown. In addition, the lack of response rate data limits conclu-
sions to be drawn regarding the generalizability of the findings to
individuals who elect not to participate in such research. Although
there is some evidence to suggest that nonresponders to bereave-
ment research do not tend to differ markedly from responders
on key demographic variables (e.g., Mor, McHorney, & Sherwood,
1986), potential differences regarding variables of interest in the
present study remain unknown.
The current sample also included a disproportionate number
of parents who had lost children to homicide. Supplementary
analyses suggested that these participants did not differ along
dimensions of concern in the study, with the exception of time
since loss. However, it is unknown to what extent the observed
relationships between variables may reflect features associated
with losses to homicide as opposed to child loss more generally.
It must also be noted that measuring both reactions to
bereavement and efforts to cope with bereavement is a complex
and difficult task and that relying on questionnaires such as the
CISS and the RGEI may have important disadvantages. Such
measures have been criticized for failing to capture the range
of grief experiences (Neimeyer & Hogan, 2001) as well as coping
strategies that may be specific to bereavement (van Heck &
de Ridder, 2001). Finally, the cross-sectional nature of the design
disallows understanding of causal processes in coping with grief
over time.
694 T. Robinson and S. J. Marwit

The present study suggests that putative risk and buffering fac-
tors in the grief process may subsume different roles depending on
the nature of the loss. Although attention to both longstanding
personality characteristics and more proximal coping activities
appears to be important for understanding grief in the context of
both spousal and child loss, it seems that the challenges for
bereaved mothers may include a greater disadvantage when it
comes to the impact of neuroticism, as well as less clear benefits
associated with task-oriented coping activities. This adds to the
literature indicating that loss circumstances must be taken into
account when studying coping and grief.

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