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Another Kind of Ambiguous Loss: Seventh‐day Adventist Women in Mixed‐Orientation Marriages
Author(s) -
Hernandez Barbara C.,
Wilson Colwick M.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
family relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1741-3729
pISSN - 0197-6664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2007.00451.x
Subject(s) - ambiguity , narrative , secrecy , psychology , interpretation (philosophy) , social psychology , coding (social sciences) , developmental psychology , sociology , political science , social science , computer science , philosophy , law , programming language , linguistics
Narratives of five Seventh‐day Adventist heterosexual women whose mixed‐orientation marriages ended were analyzed through the lens of ambiguous loss. Thematic coding identified a wave‐like process of changing emotional foci that emerged from their experience during marital dissolution. Elements of ambiguous loss included boundary ambiguity, retrospective interpretation and grieving, secrecy, and renegotiation of spiritual beliefs. A process model is introduced and elucidated through participant narratives. Treatment suggestions and implications for further study are provided.