“I Was in Work Mode, I Didn’t Have Time to Grieve”: The Mediating Role of Practical Support Across Socioeconomic Disparities in Prolonged Grief Disorder

Abstract

When a loved one dies, people may encounter a variation of needs that require different types of support. Generally, social support can relieve the severity of adverse psychological outcomes after loss, such as the persistence of severe symptoms of grief. However, access to high quality social support may vary based on personal, interpersonal, and societal risk factors, including socioeconomic status (SES). We propose that a person’s SES does not just limit access to material and financial resources, but can also limit access to social resources, such as sufficient practical support. In this study, we find that people in lower (vs. higher) SES contexts experience worse well-being after loss. In addition, we find that individuals in lower SES contexts have a greater need for practical support. Yet, despite this stronger relationship, individuals in lower SES contexts report receiving insufficient practical support after a major loss. These findings address the gap in the literature between SES, loss, grief and practical support, and suggest that the well-being of individuals in lower SES contexts are at greater risk following loss, due to a lack of protective factors. Future initiatives should target practical support to better address the practical needs of individuals in lower SES contexts, after a loss.