Grief Experiences in Response to the Death of a Significant Other among Undergraduates of University of Jos, Nigeria

Moses Ichongo Ukeh

Abstract

This study investigates grief experiences in response to loss of a significant other among undergraduates inUniversity of Jos, Nigeria adopting an ex post facto survey. A total of 45 students (27 males and 18 females) withmean age of 20 and half years completed the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TRIG). Three hypotheses weretested using a two way ANOVA (Amos SPSS 21) analysis, results showed significant differences on the main effectof Nature of Relationship (NoR) (F (1,39)=1062.08, p=0.00); with a large effect size (partial eta squared=0.90), butnot for Type of Death (ToD) (F (2,39)=1.60, p=0.21) and interaction effect (NoR*ToD) (F (2,39)=0.93, p=0.40) at thesignificant level of p ≤ 0.05.Comparisonsof the mean grief score for the intimate group (M=81.62, SD=6.71) alsoindicated to significantly differ from the Non-intimate group (M=27.33, SD=4.11). The import of this result is thatmajority of students experience grief at moderate and high levels particularly to a significant other they have intimaterelationship with before death. It is concluded that the NoR between deceased and bereaved student is a gooddeterminant of grief experiences. Recommendations are made to students to learn how to respond appropriately tobereavement to avoid complications, and education stakeholders of young people to intensify bereavementeducation and support in order to prevent adverse change in health and functioning.