Violent Loss and Meaning Reconstruction Among Black Adolescent Males

Background and Purpose:

Black males in economically oppressed neighborhoods are disproportionally affected by homicide bereavement (HB), the period of grief and mourning after homicide.  While a small body of research has explored HB among samples of children and emerging adults, little is known about the bereavement processes of Black adolescent males.  The Meaning Loss Codebook (MLC) is an observer-rated measure of meaning-making that specifies the content themes that emerge as people negotiate the challenge that a death-related loss poses to their orienting systems. Results can be used to identify intervention points, more specifically, factors that decrease mental health consequences (i.e. complicated grief).  This approach has primarily been used to explore the experiences of survivors of suicide and individuals bereaved by chronic illness and fatal accidents. This study applies the MLC to Black adolescent male experiences of HB. Findings can be used to guide the development of trauma-informed interventions that build resilience and promote post-traumatic growth.

Methods:

Thirty-three in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Black adolescent males bereaved by homicide (ages 15 to 19). Participants were recruited through an ongoing community-based sexual violence prevention randomized controlled trial in economically oppressed neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, PA. Each participant was screened to identify individuals that experienced homicide death.  Interviews elicited participants’ life history narratives, including the frequency and timing of traumatic loss resulting from homicide, contextual factors of the homicide(s), the relationship to the deceased, and the meanings youth ascribed to why the loss happened and their life aspirations. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded using the approach outlined in the MLC.

Findings: Participants described a mean of three violent losses (range 1-9).  Of the thirty MLC constructs, twenty-four were consistent with homicidally bereaved Black adolescent males’ experiences.  The most common constructs to emerge were: valuing life, living to the fullest, moving on, and impermanence. Codes that were not translatable to this population were: preparation for death, release from suffering, identity as bereaved person, regret, lack of understanding, and lost identity.  Unique to the experience of violent loss within this population was chronicity and the anticipation of reoccurring violent loss and/or personal victimization.    

Conclusions and Implications: Few studies have examined the HB of Black adolescent males.  The findings highlight the applicability and relevancy of the MLC with homicidally bereaved adolescents by mapping themes that predict grief distress, personal growth, and well-being. The strength of the MLC is its ability to trace the evolution of negative and positive meaning making over time and its relationship to grief outcomes.  These processes can be replicated in both individual and group therapeutic settings by evaluating the adaptive or maladaptive changes of the client over time.  However, when loss is chronic, this process intersects with each loss and a new process of reconstruction begins, which may impact the interpretability of meaning reconstruction in this population.  In conclusion, MLC provides one potential pathway for designing culturally relevant interventions to support the health and well-being of Black adolescents bereaved by homicide.