[Widowhood and grief reaction in Brazil. A pilot study]

Following a short introduction to transcultural research on widow(er)hood and mourning, the author reports on a Brazilian pilot study in which the reactions to mourning, social relationships, psychosomatic complaints, the tendency toward depression and suicide, etc., are studied in 26 Brazilians who have lost their partners. The results here, as in earlier studies by the same author, show that this group is distinctly "at risk". Finally, an "impact system of widow(er)hood" is developed that establishes the relationship between economic, sociocultural, psychological and somatic factors and the decisive experience of the death of a partner.