Cultural divergence in coping with bereavement: the relationship between self-blame, grief, and farewell

Abstract

Abstract Culture-related differences of grief experiences have become crucial in the bereavement literature of the past decades. Objective. Self-blame, saying farewell, and attending the funeral were hypothesized to serve as predictors of grief responses to a significant loss. The present study investigated and compared these variables on the cultural dimension of masculinity and aimed determining accordingly the role of funeral in farewell. Sample. A non-clinical sample of 372 participants from Brazil, Bulgaria, Germany, and Sri Lanka was divided into three categories representing a low (N = 41), medium (N = 175), and high masculinity level (N = 156). Method. The recruitment was conducted through an online questionnaire with items adapted from the Inventory of Complicated Grief, Grief Cognitions Questionnaire, Bereavement Guilts Scale, and new generated ones. Results. Bereaved who said farewell showed less self-blame than their counterparts. Despite higher levels of self-blame were associated to higher grief intensity, masculinity did not moderate their relationship. Self-blame was a significant grief predictor only in societies with a medium masculinity level. Unaccomplished farewell and funeral attendance were associated to higher grief intensity. Lastly, the findings indicated a significant relationship between masculinity and funeral’s role in farewell with a tendency of considering funeral a cognitive goodbye the higher the masculinity level. Conclusion. Results suggested that self-blame, farewell, funeral attendance were relevant grief predictors which differed accordingly the masculinity level. They additionally delivered further reasons to assume that farewell could include a cognitive and an emotional component.