You don't de-friend the dead: an analysis of grief communication by college students through Facebook profiles

Natalie Pennington1

  • 1Communication Studies Department, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7574, USA. natpen@ku.edu

Death Studies
|February 14, 2014
PubMed

Related Concept Videos

Bonanno's Theory of Grieving01:17

Bonanno's Theory of Grieving

Grieving is a complex psychological and emotional process that varies significantly among individuals. George Bonanno's research on bereavement identified four distinct patterns of grieving, offering a nuanced understanding of how people cope with significant loss, such as the death of a spouse, over extended periods. These patterns — resilience, recovery, chronic dysfunction, and delayed grief — highlight the diversity in emotional responses and adaptive mechanisms.
Resilience
1.5K
Social Foundations of Self IV: Self in Digital Communication01:30

Social Foundations of Self IV: Self in Digital Communication

Since the early 2000s, computer-mediated communication (CMC) has grown rapidly, playing a crucial role in self-development. A key distinction between CMC and real-life interactions is the lack of a physically present partner. This absence makes non-verbal cues such as facial expressions, body language, and paralinguistic signals unavailable in CMC platforms like email, instant messaging, or social media. The lack of these cues can create ambiguity and complicate how feedback is interpreted.The...
283
Kubler Ross's Stages of Dying01:21

Kubler Ross's Stages of Dying

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross significantly advanced psychology's understanding of the process of dying with her influential book, On Death and Dying (1969). She focused on studying terminally ill individuals and outlined five stages commonly experienced when coping with death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
In denial, individuals reject the reality of their condition, often thinking, "This isn't true; I feel fine," as a way to protect themselves from...
2.1K
Friendships and Close Friendships01:20

Friendships and Close Friendships

Friendship formation is a dynamic process shaped by psychological, cultural, and social factors. Friendships play a crucial role in emotional well-being, social development, and personal identity from childhood to adulthood.Childhood and Early FriendshipsFriendships in childhood often arise due to shared environments, such as school or neighborhood interactions. At this stage, proximity and common interests serve as the primary basis for connection. As children grow, their friendships evolve...
315
Ending Relationships01:28

Ending Relationships

The dissolution of intimate relationships presents complex emotional and psychological challenges, particularly when emotional bonds are strong, the relationship is long-standing, and perceived alternatives are limited. This distress often intensifies in romantic breakups, where the initiator may experience greater turmoil than the rejected partner. Contributing factors include residual attachment, guilt over causing pain, and uncertainty about how to manage the situation. The stress is further...
256
Deindividuation00:57

Deindividuation

Deindividuation is a form of social influence on an individual’s behavior such that the individual engages in unusual or non-normal behavior while in a group setting. Why? Because in these group settings, the individual no longer sees themselves as an individual anymore, disinhibiting their behavior and personal restraint.
22.4K