ANTICIPATORY GRIEF AND POSTDEATH ADJUSTMENT

College students (N = 224) described their adjustment to the death of a significant other and identified whether they had anticipated the de ath for 1 week or longer (anticipation group) or less than 1 week (una nticipated comparison group). The anticipation group reported better p ostdeath adjustment than the comparison group in terms of occurrence a nd frequency of grief-related symptoms, acceptance of the death, and p erceived helpfulness and harmfulness of anticipation. Within the antic ipation group, length of anticipation appeared to have little relation ship to postdeath adjustment. While reported social support was unrela ted to the apparent benefit of anticipation, the age of the person who had died was significantly associated with both anticipation and post death adjustment.