Crying and Vagal Recovery During Bereavement

Abstract

Background: Crying is a universal behavior seen around birth, around death, and many moments in between. While there is much literature on crying in infants and young children, there is little research investigating the function of crying in adults and specifically during bereavement. The current study aimed to assess if an individual’s grief severity moderated the relationship between crying and vagal control. We also sought to replicate findings that depression moderated the relationship between crying and vagal control. Methods: The current study analyzes data from the Emotion Regulation Diary Study (ERDS). In ERDs, participants underwent a video recorded, grief recall interview during an electrocardiogram. Fifty-nine participants from ERDS qualified for final analyses of crying behavior. Raters coded the grief recall interviews for length of crying (none, 5 minutes, 10 minutes). Results: There was not significant moderation between crying and vagal control by grief severity nor depression. A significant main effect was found for depression on vagal control following the grief recall interview and accounting for baseline vagal control, however grief severity did not show a significant main effect. Conclusions: We did not support our hypotheses that grief and depression would moderate the relationships between crying and vagal control. A noteworthy finding emerged showing a main effect of depression on vagal control.