Quantify or Classify? Recommendations for Ambiguous Loss Versus Boundary Ambiguity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12927640 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Pauline Boss (0009-0000-6549-4601, Twin Cities Orthopedics, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 7-12 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-28 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Family Theory & Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1756-2570 • E-ISSN: 1756-2589 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/jftr.70011 |
| OpenAlex | W4415620656 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 33 |
The theory of ambiguous loss is a psychosocial theory born out of my interdisciplinary interests and training in human development, family science, psychology, sociology, and psychiatry/family therapy. Historically, qualitative and mixed methods advanced this theory; today, an ambiguous loss scale is wanted. What can and cannot be measured? Why are perceptions of ambiguous loss quantifiable while the phenomenon itself is not? Recommendations and critical aspects are presented for new generations who hopefully will further theory development. Instead of the usual epistemological questions about truth and measurement, we ask, “How do people left behind perceive the agonizing stress of missing loved ones?” The goal of ambiguous loss intervention is not to cure or fix (because we cannot), but paradoxically, to build enough resilience in those left behind to move forward with life despite unanswered questions. Today, this theory is applied globally; novel applications are emerging
Ambiguity · Intervention (counseling · Perception · Phenomenon · Psychological resilience · Psychosocial · Scale (ratio · Forgiveness and Related Behaviors · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Resilience and Mental Health
Family Theories and Methods
Family Stress Management
Family Stress Management
The Ambiguous Loss Inventory Plus (ALI+)
The Politics of Ambiguous Loss
The Context and Process of Theory Development
Ambiguous Loss Due to Separation in Voluntary Transnational Families
Context matters
Families of the missing
The Affective Border
Psychological Absence in the Intact Family
The Tolerance for Ambiguity Scale
Perez Ambiguous Loss of Homeland Scale
Ambiguous Loss for Cambodian American Deportees and Their Families
The Relationship of Psychological Father Presence, Wife's Personal Qualities and Wife/Family Dysfunction in Families of Missing Fathers
A Clarification of the Concept of Psychological Father Presence in Families Experiencing Ambiguity of Boundary
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |