Prolonged Grief Severity and Lingering Attachment Predict Approach of the Deceased

The present dataset, syntax and output are connected to a published paper with the following identifier: https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.23124. The paper contains a detailed description of the data collection procedures, sample characteristics, analyses, and results from the analyses. This is the paper's ABSTRACT: Following the death of a loved one, both approach behaviors related to the deceased (i.e., engagement with feelings, memories, and/or reminders of the deceased) and the avoidance of reminders of the death are theorized to precipitate severe and persistent grief reactions, termed prolonged grief (PG). The “approach‐avoidance processing hypothesis” holds that these behavioral tendencies occur simultaneously in prolonged grief disorder (PGD). We tested this hypothesis using a novel free‐viewing attention task. Bereaved adults (N = 72, 81.9% female) completed a survey assessing PG symptoms, depressive symptoms, and lingering attachment and a free‐viewing task assessing voluntary attention toward pictures of the deceased and combinations of the deceased with loss‐related words (i.e., loss‐reality reminders). A main finding was that participants with higher PG symptom levels, ρ(70) = .32, p = .006, and more lingering attachment, ρ(70) = .26, p = .030, showed stronger attentional focus toward pictures of the deceased. No significant association emerged between either PG symptom levels or lingering attachment and attention toward loss‐reality reminders. The findings suggest that higher PG symptom levels may be characterized by persisting approach tendencies toward the deceased. Countering excessive proximity‐seeking to the deceased in therapy could be beneficial for bereaved adults who show severe and persistent grief reactions.