When Ambiguous Loss Becomes Certain Loss: Relatives of Missing Persons in Cyprus

Abstract

For more than half a century, the people of Cyprus have reported missing family members to the authorities. Not knowing the fate of a loved one who disappeared during ethnic clashes led families into a state of ambiguous loss, a condition known to cause significant psychological stress. The main goal was to investigate role of identification and funeral process related experience in explaining variance in psychological distress, while controlling for psychosocial variables. Using a cross-sectional design, with total sample size of 898, the study involved two participant groups: Turkish Cypriots (TC) and Greek Cypriots (GC). Separate hierarchical regressions were conducted to examine predictors of psychological distress in both groups. When gender, resilience, perceived injustice, social support, relationship to the missing person (first-degree vs. second-degree), and coping scores were controlled for, experiences related to identification process negatively predicted psychological distress, whereas experiences related to funeral process positively predicted psychological distress in TC group. In contrast, when psychosocial variables were controlled for, experiences related to identification process positively predicted psychological distress, while experiences related to funeral process negatively predicted psychological distress in GC group. These divergent findings regarding identification and funeral processes suggest a potential influence of sociocultural and political factors. These findings highlighted the prolonged psychological distress experienced by both TC and GC family members of identified missing persons. It is considered essential to provide psychosocial support to the families even after the identification process, taking into account cultural, political, religious, and ethnic considerations and needs of each community.