Positive Emotion Following Spousal Bereavement : Desirable or Pathological?

Positive emotion following bereavement was examined in a prospective longitudinal study. Participants lost a spouse (n=250) and were interviewed prior to the death, 6 months after the death, and in some cases 18 and 48 months after the death. Some theorists have suggested that positive emotion is desirable during distress even though earlier theorists suggested that positive emotion during distress may indicate pathology. In this analysis, positive emotion was associated with desirable outcomes (less depressed mood, more social support received, more social provision to others) and this effect was not diminished among people reporting elevated levels of distress. Also, the simultaneous occurrence of positive emotion and distress was not associated with pre-existing emotional instability. Those experiencing positive emotion reported lower levels of grief, but not qualitatively different grief. The findings suggest that positive emotion tends to be associated with desirable outcomes even among people reporting elevated distress.