Boelen, P. A. (in press). Variables mediating the linkage between loss-centrality and post-loss psychopathology. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.

Abstract

Event-centrality refers to degree to which the memory of a negative life-event is a core component of a person's identity. There is evidence that greater event-centrality is associated with more intense psychopathology after different events, including the death of a loved one. This study sought to advance our understanding of variables mediating the linkage between loss-centrality and post-loss psychopathology. Specifically, using multiple mediation analyses, we examined the role of (i) intrusiveness of memories about the loss-event, (ii) negative future-cognitions and catastrophic misinterpretations of one own grief-reactions, and (iii) depressive avoidance and rumination in mediating the associations between loss-centrality and post-loss psychopathology. Outcomes showed that memory-intrusiveness, the two cognitive variables, and two behavioural strategies emerged as unique, independent mediators of the linkages between loss-centrality and indices of post-loss psychopathology, when controlling for the shared variance between the proposed mediators. Implications of these findings are discussed.