When college students grieve: New insights into the effects of loss during emerging adulthood.

The present study used a revised online version of the College Student Bereavement Survey (the CSBS-R) to study the effects of student grief on college academics and social life. Of the 969 respondents, 408 (42%) reported grieving a relatively recent death of a person of significance in their lives. Hierarchical multiple regressions using gender, multiple deaths, closeness to the deceased, and/or social media use as independent variables revealed closeness to the deceased explaining a significant proportion of the variance of academic and social/peer experiences. Findings underscore the need for student bereavement policies, and how social media and closeness to the deceased affect the college experience.