Grief following pet and human loss: Closeness is key.

The authors compared grief severity and its predictors in two equivalent college student samples who had experienced the death of a pet (n = 211) or a person (n = 146) within the past 2 years. The human death sample reported higher grief severity, p < .01, but effect sizes were small (ds = .28-.30). For both samples, closeness to the deceased was overwhelmingly the strongest predictor of grief severity; other predictors generally dropped out with closeness added to the model. Results highlight the importance of including closeness to deceased in grief research, and its centrality in understanding grief counseling clients.