Files

Abstract

Avoiding death in interaction, what I refer to as "death avoidance," is a societal problem that can affect people from all walks of life. This thesis project aims to investigate potential root causes of death avoidant behaviors in society by looking at the family. There has been much research that addresses death communication in end-of-life care, particularly in hospital settings, and social-psychological explorations of grief, but research about the ways death discussions emerge in the institution of the family and its implication later in life is understudied. For this project, qualitative interviews (N = 10) were conducted to gain insight into how death discussions manifest for people within their family interactions and relationships, and how those discussions (or lack of) impact their understanding of and interactions with death. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach and a symbolic interactionist framework. The findings of this study suggest that the family is one of the first sites for meaning making when it comes to death and that conflicting behaviors surrounding death are common first experiences during formative years. Results also demonstrate that family interactions and relationships have the power to impact participants' perspectives of death, through themes of learning from others, crying, no communication, relying on religion, and preparation, carried into adulthood. Current scholarship investigates interactions during death events, and predominantly in institutional contexts, but neglects to address whether and how the family shapes this. This project concludes that family relationships inform perspectives on death and may impact the extent to which it emerges in other interactions.

Details

Actions

PDF

from
to
Export
Download Full History