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Understanding Black and African American Grief Following Inclusion of Prolonged Grief Disorder in the DSM-5-TR

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Abstract

Black and African Americans experience bereavement more frequently and earlier in life than White Americans and thus may be more impacted by prolonged grief disorder (PGD). With the revision of the DSM-5 and the inclusion of PGD as a recognized psychiatric syndrome, researchers have an opportunity to further the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of PGD in Black grievers residing in the United States. Relatively little research has been devoted to the specific risks and resiliencies impacting bereavement-related mental health outcomes among these individuals. Participants in our study were invited to participate in a Qualtrics-based survey disseminated through Centiment. A total of 259 participants were included in the final sample. Overall findings suggest demographic factors such as educational attainment and gender were not significantly associated with PGD. Factors such as younger age, prior trauma exposure, and violent circumstances of the death were associated with PGD, though only PTSD and anxiety symptoms were associated with PGD after adjusting for co-occurring mental health symptoms. These findings point to identifiable risk factors and resilience factors that may contribute to grief trajectories among Black grievers.

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Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the UMKC School of Graduate Studies to Jasmine R. Jamison-Petr.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Missouri–Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, USA

    Jasmine R. Jamison-Petr & Joah L. Williams

  2. Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center, Leavenworth, KS, USA

    Jasmine R. Jamison-Petr

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA

    Joah L. Williams

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Jasmine R. Jamison-Petr. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Jasmine R. Jamison-Petr and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Joah L. Williams.

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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Missouri – Kansas City (IRB#2015748).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants in the study.

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Jamison-Petr, J.R., Williams, J.L. Understanding Black and African American Grief Following Inclusion of Prolonged Grief Disorder in the DSM-5-TR. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01727-x

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