Ambiguous Loss Resources

Plus: Resources on Boundary Ambiguity

This is a collection of resources that NCFR has gathered on ambiguous loss, which can result from either a physical loss in which there is no guarantee the lost person will return and no verification of death, or a mental loss, such as related to dementia, in which there is no guarantee that a person's mental faculties will return to the way they used to be.

You'll find links to video discussions and lectures, scholarly articles from NCFR's journals, articles from NCFR Report magazine, and more below.

Website: AmbiguousLoss.com

Therapist and NCFR Fellow Pauline Boss's website on ambiguous loss contains explanations, resources (books, articles, and more), and media mentions about the topic. Boss coined the term ambiguous loss, which refers to experiencing loss in which death cannot be verified, or not being able to guarantee that a person will return to their former condition.

Book: Family Stress Management, 3rd Edition

Pauline Boss explores the larger context surrounding families and stress, and the inner context, which includes perceptions and meanings. She emphasizes the need for a more general contextual model of family stress that could be applicable to more people and families as well as a wider variety of stresses and crises than other models. The goal is to provide a framework for students and professionals engaged in helping families learn how to manage their stress.

Media on Ambiguous Loss

Conference Session Video: Global Challenges: How Families Manage the Stress of Ambiguous Loss —presented by Pauline Boss; available to NCFR members
Audio/Podcast: Pauline Boss: The Myth of Closure — On Being with Krista Tippett
- On Being Companion Piece: Living the Questions: It’s really settling in now, the losses large and small — Pauline Boss and Krista Tippett discuss what ambiguous loss means in the COVID-19 pandemic
Webinar: Helping Families Learn to Live with Ambiguous Loss — presented by Pauline Boss
Webinar: Ambiguous Loss Treatment and Intervention for Family Therapists —presented by Pauline Boss
Conference Session Video: Myth of Closure: What is Normal Grief After Loss, Clear or Ambiguous? —presented by Pauline Boss; available to NCFR members
Presentation Clip and Slides: Finding Meaning to Cope with Ambiguous Loss — presented by Pauline Boss
Conversation: Ambiguous Loss and Approaches for Working with Families of the Missing — featuring Pauline Boss and Simon Robins
Conversation: A Conversation About Ambiguous Loss Research — featuring Pauline Boss and Jay Mancini
Conversation: Pauline Boss on Ambiguous Loss
Public Service Campaign Clip: Intergenerational Ambivalence

Scholarly Articles on Ambiguous Loss

Journal Articles

Special Issue of Journal of Family Theory & Review (JFTR) on Ambiguous Loss Theory, 2016
Ambiguous Loss Theory: Challenges for Scholars and Practitioners — by Pauline Boss; published in Family Relations (FR), 2007
Ambiguous Loss Research, Theory, and Practice: Reflections After 9/11 — by Pauline Boss; published in Journal of Marriage and Family (JMF), 2004
Dealing with Ambiguous Loss — by Carolyn Y. Tubbs and Pauline Boss; published in FR, 2000
The Family Coping Inventory Applied to Parents with New Babies — by Jacqueline N. Ventura and Pauline G. Boss; published in JMF, 1983
Normative Family Stress: Family Boundary Changes Across the Life-Span — by Pauline G. Boss; published in FR, 1980
The Relationship of Psychological Father Presence, Wife's Personal Qualities and Wife/Family Dysfunction in Families of Missing Fathers — by Pauline G. Boss; published in JMF, 1980
A Clarification of the Concept of Psychological Father Presence in Families Experiencing Ambiguity of Boundary — by Pauline Boss; published in JMF, 1977

Theory Construction and Research Methodology (TCRM) Workshop Papers — login required

Down Syndrome and Fathering: An Exploration of Ambiguous Loss — by Gail E. Bentley, Anisa Zvonkovic, Nicole Springer, and Michael McCarty, 2012
Boundary Ambiguity Across Levels of Openness in Adoption — by Fravel, D. L., Grotevant, H. D., Boss, P. G., & McRoy, R. G., 1993
Ambiguous Loss and Boundary Ambiguity in Multiracial Families: An Extension of Ambiguous Loss Theory — by Dixon, A., 2001
The Measurement of Family Boundary Ambiguity: A General Variable in Family Stress Theory — by Boss, P., & Greenberg, J., 1982
Psychological Father Presence in the Missing-in-Action Family System: The Testing of a Theory on Father Interaction — by Boss, P., 1975

For NCFR journal access: If you're an NCFR member who subscribes to NCFR's journals, log in to the NCFR website and visit the subscriber-access webpages below to read the full text of journal articles on the website of our journal publisher, Wiley.

Journal of Marriage and Family Subscriber Access

Family Relations Subscriber Access

Journal of Family Theory & Review Subscriber Access