Another kind of ambiguous loss: Seventh-day adventist women in mixed-orientation marriages

Abstract

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. Copyright 2007 by the National Council on Family Relations.