Long-term outcome of bereavement.

With the aid of the Texas Inventory of Grief, 130 first-degree relatives were studied eight years after bereavement. It was found that relatives of persons who had died suddenly and unexpectedly had more pronounced grief reactions than those of persons whose deaths were more expected. The same was observed concerning parents as a group, compared with widows and widowers. The inventory was found to be of value for assessing whether the outcome was good or poor, but it was not possible to identify risk groups with this method.