a Department of Psychology , University of Memphis , Memphis , Tennessee , USA.
b Department of Clinical Psychology , William James College , Newton , Massachusetts , USA.
Death Stud. 2019;43(2):103-112. doi: 10.1080/07481187.2018.1456008. Epub 2018 Jun 5.
A mourner's success in making meaning of a loss has proven key in predicting a wide array of bereavement outcomes. However, much of this meaning-making process takes place in an interpersonal framework that is hypothesized to either aid or obstruct this process. To date, a psychometrically validated measure of the degree to which a mourner successfully makes meaning of a loss in a social context has yet to be developed. The present study examines the factor structure, reliability, and validity of a new measure called the Social Meaning in Life Events Scale (SMILES) in a sample of bereaved college students (N = 590). The SMILES displayed a two-factor structure, with one factor assessing the extent to which a mourner's efforts at making meaning were invalidated (Social Invalidation subscale), and the other assessing the extent to which a mourner's meaning-making process was validated (Social Validation subscale). The subscales displayed good reliability and construct validity in reference to several outcome variables of interest (complicated grief, general health, and post-loss growth), as well as related but different variables (social support and meaning made). The subscales also demonstrated group differences according to two demographic variables associated with complications in the mourning process (age and mode of loss), as well as incremental validity in predicting adverse bereavement outcomes over and above general social support. Clinical and research implications involving the use of this new measure are discussed.
丧亲者对丧亲之痛赋予意义的能力，已被证明是预测一系列丧亲后果的关键。然而，这种意义构建过程大多发生在人际框架内，这个框架被假设为有助于或阻碍这一过程。迄今为止，一种在社会背景下衡量丧亲者成功赋予丧亲之痛意义的程度的心理测量学验证方法尚未开发出来。本研究在一组丧亲的大学生样本中（N=590），检验了一种名为生活事件社会意义量表（SMILES）的新测量工具的结构、信度和效度。SMILES 呈现出两因素结构，一个因素评估丧亲者赋予意义的努力被否定的程度（社会否定子量表），另一个因素评估丧亲者意义构建过程被肯定的程度（社会肯定子量表）。这两个子量表在与几个感兴趣的结果变量（复杂悲痛、一般健康和失去后的成长）以及相关但不同的变量（社会支持和意义）有关时，表现出了良好的信度和结构效度。这两个子量表还根据与悲伤过程复杂化相关的两个人口统计学变量（年龄和丧失方式）显示出了群体差异，并且在预测不良丧亲后果方面具有额外的有效性，超过了一般社会支持。讨论了涉及使用这种新测量工具的临床和研究意义。
