Online Emotion Regulation in Digitally Mediated Bereavement. Why Age and Kind of Loss Matter in Grieving Online

The study by media psychologists of emotional communication in online bereavement still leaves many questions unanswered. Previous research has identified similarities as well as differences in emotion regulation patterns of children, adolescents, and adults (Döveling 2015a). Extending that research, this investigation of digitally mediated bereavement goes one step further by exploring additional types of mechanisms within the emotion regulatory processes of coping online. A total of 4 different bereavement platforms, used by mourners of differing ages and kinds of losses, from young children to widowers, were examined in a quantitative content analysis of online postings (N = 1036), generating insights into shared emotion regulation patterns and intimacy online. The findings highlight interpersonal empathy, irrespective of age of the bereaved or type of loss, but also disclose age-based differences in emotion regulatory processes. Implications for further media psychological analysis are laid out.