To empirically determine the factor structure of the original sixty-seven-item Bereavement Experience Questionnaire (BEQ) (Demi, 1984; Demi & Schroeder, 1987, 1989), data from 437 adults bereaved within the past two years were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Results did not support the original theoretically based, eight-factor structure, but did suggest a three-factor structure with fewer items. A twenty-four-item three-factor (Existential Loss/Emotional Needs, Guilt/Blame/Anger, Preoccupation with Thoughts of Deceased) LISREL measurement model fit the data well. In addition, this three-factor model made good theoretical sense. This empirically derived twenty-four-item three-factor scale was then cross-validated with independent data from an additional 297 bereaved adults. The use of this refined measure of grief, the BEQ-24, is discussed.
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