Death of a close friend: Short and long-term impacts on physical, psychological and social well-being
Date
2019
Authors
Liu, Wai-Man
Forbat, Liz
Anderson, Katrina Judith
Journal Title
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Publisher
Public Library of Science
Abstract
This paper reports the impact of a major life event–death–on the physical, psychological
and social well-being of the deceased’s close friends. We utilised data from a large longitudinal survey covering a period of 14 years (2002–2015) consisting a cohort of 26,515 individuals in Australia, of whom 9,586 had experienced the death of at least one close friend. This
longitudinal cohort dataset comprises responses to the SF-36 (health related quality of life
measure) and allowed for analysis of the short and longer-term impacts of bereavement. In
order to manage the heterogeneity of the socio-demographics of respondents who did/not
experience a death event, we use a new and robust approach known as the Entropy Balancing method to construct a set of weights applied to the bereaved group and the control group
(the group that did not experience death). This approach enables us to match the two
groups so that the distribution of socio-demographic variables between the two groups are
balanced. These variables included gender, age, marital status, ethnicity, personality traits,
religion, relative socio-economic disadvantage, economic resources, and education and
occupation and where they resided. The data show, for the first time, a range of negative
and enduring consequences experienced by people following the death of a close friend.
Significant adverse physical and psychological well-being, poorer mental health and social
functioning occur up to four years following bereavement. Bereaved females experienced a
sharper fall in vitality, suffered greater deterioration in mental health, impaired emotional
and social functioning than the male counterparts up to four years after the death. The data
show that the level of social connectedness plays an important role in bereavement outcomes. Specifically, we found that less socially active respondents experienced a longer
deterioration in physical and psychological health. Finally, we found evidence that the death
of a close friend lowered the respondent’s satisfaction with their health. Since death of
friends is a universal phenomenon, we conclude the paper by reflecting on the need to recognise the death of a close friend as a substantial experience, and to offer support and services to address this disenfranchised grief. Recognising bereaved friends as a group
experiencing adverse outcomes can be used internationally to prompt health and psychological services to assist this specific group, noting that there may be substantial longevity to the negative sequelae of the death of a friend. Facilitating bereaved people’s support networks may be a fruitful approach to minimising these negative outcomes.
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Source
PLOS ONE
Type
Journal article
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Access Statement
Open Access
License Rights
Creative Commons Attribution License