Bereavement
and anxiety
Children who
experienced the death of a parent were compared
to clinically depressed children and a control
group in this study measuring anxiety. None of
the bereaved children met the DSM-III-R criteria
for anxiety disorder, although an increase of
anxiety was recorded. Anxiety about the possible
death of another family member were slightly
higher eight weeks after the death than
immediately after the death.
Source:
Sanchez, L, Fristad, M, Weller, R.A. and Moye,
J. Anxiety in acutely bereaved prepubertal
children. Annual of Clinical Psychiatry, 1994, 6
(1): 39-43.
The child’s
adjustment after the death of a parent.
In a study conducted
with school children bereaved and non-bereaved
children were compared. Shortly after the death
of a parent very little difference was found in
measures of emotional well-being. However, after
two years the bereaved children showed higher
levels of social withdrawal, social problems and
anxiety as well as lower levels of self-esteem.
In approximately 20% of the bereaved children
these levels were such as to indicate that the
children would benefit from professional
assistance.
Source:
Worden, J.W. & Silverman, P.R. Parental
death and the adjustment of school-age children.
Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 1996, 33 (2):
91-102.
Child development
and concept of death
This study found no
difference in an accurate concept of death
(using Piagetian theory) between children who
have experienced the death of a sibling and
children who have not experienced bereavement.
The study also discovered that 45.7% of the 5
year olds had an accurate concept of death, as
did 60% of the 6-8 year olds and 90-100% of the
9-12 year olds.
Source: Cain,
A.C. and Lohnes, K.L. Identificatory symptoms in
bereaved children: a diagnostic note. Journal of
Development, 16(4), 282-284: 1995
Gender differences
in school adjustment after parental separation.
In a study to determine
what factors were related to adjustment in
school after parental separation some
differences were found between boys and girls.
Those girls who reported less blaming of their
mother and who reported that mother had positive
things to say about the father exhibited good
adjustment. With the boys the following was
related to good adjustment: both parents having
positive things to say about each other, less
blaming of the father for the separation, low
fear of abandonment, and good parenting skills
by the mother.
Source:
Oppenheimer, K., Prinz, R.J. and Bella, B.S.
Determinants of adjustment for children of
divorcing parents. Family Medicine, 22(2),
107-111, 1990.
Childhood bereavement and adult depression.
Among adults who had
experienced the death of a parent in childhood,
those who reported a warm, supportive
relationship with the surviving parent, freedom
from over-protectiveness and having had
opportunities to actively grieve displayed lower
levels of depressive experiences as adults than
those who experienced the opposite.
Source:
Saler,
L. and Skolnick, N. Childhood parental death and
depression in adulthood: roles of surviving
parent and family environment. American Journal
of Orthopsychiatry, 62 (4), 504-516, 1992.
What helps a child
to mourn?
In this self-report
study children mentioned talking to family
members, talking to God, yelling, out-of doors
activities and art work as being helpful to them
in their mourning.
Source:
Lehna,
C.R. Children’s descriptions of their feelings
and what they found helpful during bereavement.
American Journal of Hospital and Palliative
Care, 1995, 12 (5): 24-30.
Pre-death and post-death anxiety and depression.
Among children with a
parent dying of cancer high levels of anxiety
and depression were noted. After the death of
the parent the level dropped to normal with
seven to twelve months
Source:
Siegel, K., Karus, D. and Raveis, V.H.
Adjustment of children facing the death of a
parent due to cancer. Journal of the American
Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
1996, 35 (4): 442-450.
Stability after the
death of a parent leads to normal developmental
patterns.
The researchers
compared children who have experienced the death
of a parent with two groups: "normal"
school children and depressed in -patients. When
a stable home environment was provided for the
bereaved children, measures of behavior,
self-esteem, interest in school, peer
involvement, and peer enjoyment resembled those
of the "normal" children.
Source:
Fristad, M.A., Jedel, R., Weller, R.A., and
Weller, E.B. Psychosocial functioning in
children after the death of a parent. American
Journal of Psychiatry, 1993, 150(3): 511-513.
"Relationship"
with deceased parent leads to effective
grieving.
This study took a look
at intervention groups for grieving children to
see if there were any common threads in
effective grieving. One thing they found was
that an important aspect of grieving was to
maintain an emotion attachment to an internal
image of the deceased parent. Rather than
encourage children to "put the past behind
them", it would seem that it would be
helpful to help the child strengthen the inner
representation of the parent.
Source:
Lohnes, K.L. and Kalter, N. Preventitive
intervention groups for parentally bereaved
children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry:
1994, 64(4): 594-603
