Another Kind of Ambiguous Loss: Seventh-day Adventist Women in Mixed-Orientation Marriages

• Published in: Family relations Vol. 56; no. 2; pp. 184 - 195
• Main Authors: Hernandez, Barbara C., Wilson, Colwick M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.04.2007; National Council on Family Relations; Blackwell Publishing
• Subjects: Ambiguity; ambiguous loss; Beliefs; Children; Children & youth; Christianity; Coding; Divorce; Family; Family relations; Family Relationship; Family studies; family systems; Female homosexuality; Females; Gays & lesbians; Grief; Heterosexuality; Husbands; Lesbian and Gay Families; Literature Reviews; Loss; Male homosexuality; Males; Marital Status; Marriage; Men; Mental health; mixed-orientation marriage; Mothers; Religion; Religiosity; Religious Cultural Groups; Resistance (Psychology); Same sex marriage; Schizophrenia; Secrecy; Sexual Orientation; Spouses; Wives
• ISSN: 0197-6664; 1741-3729; 0197-6664
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2007.00451.x

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.