Finding Positive Meaning After Loss: The Mediating Role of Reflection for Bereaved Individuals GU ¨ LER BOYRAZ Psychology Department, Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA SHARON G. HORNE and THOMAS V. SAYGER y Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Research, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA This study examined the mediating effect of reflection on the relationship between search for meaning, positive affect, negative affect, and positive meaning-finding among 380 bereaved indivi- duals. Using structural equation modeling, reflection was found to mediate the relationship between search for meaning, affect (positive and negative), and positive meaning-finding. The hypothesized model accounted for 32% of the variance in reflection and 34% of the variance in positive meaning-finding. Implications of the findings, including strategies to increase reflection and positive affect following the loss of a loved one, are discussed. Losing a loved one can be a life-altering experience and often challenges assumptions that the world is a benevolent and meaningful place (e.g., Janoff-Bulman, 1992). Although experiencing the death of a loved one can create intense distress and even lead to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (e.g., Murphy, Johnson, Chung, & Beaton, 2003), it can also spur personal transformations for some bereaved individuals (e.g., Gillies & Neimeyer, 2006; Janoff-Bulman & Berg, 1998; Schaefer & Moos, 2001). The experience of loss may initiate a meaning reconstruction process through which an individual tries to minimize the discrepancy between y Deceased. Received 29 May 2009; accepted 17 July 2009. Address correspondence to Gu ¨ler Boyraz, Psychology Department, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd., Nashville, TN 37219-1561, USA. E-mail: gboyraz@gmail.com Journal of Loss and Trauma, 15:242–258, 2010 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1532-5024 print=1532-5032 online DOI: 10.1080/15325020903381683 242