When African American Teen Girls’ Friends Are Murdered: A Qualitative Study of Bereavement,Coping,and Psychosocial Consequences

Abstract

This qualitative study examines how African American teen girls grieve the loss of their friends who die from murder. Semistructured interviews were held with 21 African American teenage girls who experienced such a loss. The data analysis was guided by grounded theory. The emergent themes were classified into 3 major areas: mourning, coping, and psychosocial consequences. The mourning experiences ranged from uncomplicated bereavement to traumatic grief and depression. Three coping strategies emerged from the data: private strategies, public strategies, and context support strategies. Psychosocial consequences included associated losses, living challenges, and aspects of resilience consisting of constitutional factors, meaning-making efforts, and contextual supports of the participants. The implications for social work practice and social work education are discussed.

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