Date of Conferral

1-6-2026

Date of Award

January 2026

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Health Sciences

Advisor

Peter Anderson

Abstract

Grief is an emotional reaction to the loss of a loved one through death. Although grief is a universal human experience, its perspective is unique, and research has often ignored the varied experiences of racial/ethnic and cultural groups, particularly men of color in the United States. The purpose of this quantitative study was to measure the level of grief experienced by men whose female partner died and to determine whether ethnicity, having a prior mental health diagnosis, social support, and traumatic or anticipated loss significantly impacted their level of grief. The study was guided by the social-ecological model to explain any revealed associations. Descriptive statistics and linear multiple regression were used to analyze N=208 Amazon Mechanical Turk electronic survey responses. Results revealed that social support and type of loss had statistically significant associations, R² = .254, p <.001, and R² = .284, p = .019, respectively, with the level of grief in men whose female partner died. The findings indicated that for every 1-unit increase in perceived social support, the severity of grief decreased by 6.1%, 95% confidence interval (CI) [-0.097, -0.025]. For every 1-unit change in anticipated loss, the severity of grief decreased by 156%, 95% CI [-2.350, -0.784]. There were no statistically significant findings for ethnicity or prior mental health diagnoses. The findings may contribute to positive social change by helping public health practitioners support men who have lost a female partner. More targeted grief support could improve the lives of grieving men and their families and communities.

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