Recent research suggests that circumstances surrounding the death of a loved one and the characteristics of the survivor may affect the grief reaction. To investigate the effect of race and type of death (sudden or anticipated) on the bereavement experience, a true-false questionnaire and the Grief Experience Inventory were administered to 74 adults who had recently lost a spouse. No significant differences were found between sudden versus lingering death survivors. Differences between black and white participants indicated that in dealing with grief black people were more likely than white persons to use defenses such as denial, repression and rationalization and reported more preoccupation with thoughts of the deceased than did the white subjects. The findings suggest that if these defense mechanisms had not been operating, significant differences on other clinical scales might have been found. (Author/JAC)