Comparative Grief experiences of bereaved twins and other bereaved relatives

The nature of grief experienced by bereaved twins and other bereaved individuals was examined with reference to their relatedness to the deceased. Two-hundred and seventy-nine bereaved twins completed the Grief Experience Inventory (GEI) as part of an ongoing study of twin loss. Twinsʹ scores on all GEI scales significantly exceeded those of 102 non-twin individuals who experienced relatively recent bereavement. Organizing this early bereavement group by relationship to the deceased, scores of a subset of recently bereaved twins exceeded those of bereaved children and spouses, and were slightly higher than those of bereaved parents. However, the majority of twinsʹ scores were significantly higher than those of parents in a different group, who had lost sons during military service. GEI scale scores of surviving monozygotic (MZ) twins generally exceeded those of surviving dizygotic (DZ) twins, with differences reached significance on five of nine scales. The implications of genetic and social relatedness between survivor and deceased are examined with respect to theoretical and applied aspects of bereavement research and counseling.