Satisfaction with life after partner loss: Time-varying and time-invariant components and their associations with prolonged grief

Background: Recovery after the death of a loved one involves decreasing sadness and grief, but also involves maintaining and strengthening satisfaction with life (SWL). Greater SWL may buffer the development of emotional problems following loss, including symptoms of prolonged grief. There is limited knowledge on how SWL may develop following loss and how it relates to such symptoms. The aim of this study was to examine to what extent SWL following partner-loss was characterized by time-invariant (trait-like) and time-varying (state-like) components and to examine associations of these components with long-term prolonged grief. 

Method: Data were available from elderly bereaved people who lost their partner. They provided self-reported data on SWL at two, six, 13, 18 and 48 months post-loss and rated prolonged grief severity at 48 months. Latent trait-state-occasion (TSO) modeling was employed to distinguish the time-invariant and time-varying components of SWL. Regression analysis tested associations of these components with prolonged grief at 48 months. 

Results: In this sample, SWL consisted of significant time-invariant and time-varying components. The time-varying components were larger than the time-invariant component at 4 of 5 assessment points. At 48 months post-loss, the time-varying component of SWL was more strongly associated with concurrently assessed prolonged grief than was its time-invariant component. 

Conclusion: After partner loss, SWL appears to be more strongly “state-like” than “trait-like”. This suggests that it may be successfully boosted by external influences (including bereavement care interventions).