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The Bereaved Child:

Variables Influencing Early Psychopathology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Michele M. Van Eerdewegh ,
Paula J. Clayton  and
Paul Van Eerdewegh
Michele M. Van Eerdewegh
Affiliation:
Washington University School of Medicine and The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis, 216 South Kingshighway, P. O. Box 14109, St. Louis, Missouri 63178
Paula J. Clayton
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Paul Van Eerdewegh
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine and The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis
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Summary

This is a 13-month follow-up study of 105 two to 17 year-old children bereaved of one parent, with 85 controls. Data were gathered on physical and mental health in the children and surviving parents, the child's sex and age and the bereaved parent's sex and psychopathology being included as risk factors. Dysphoria, falling school performance and withdrawn behaviour were significantly increased in bereaved children of both sexes at all ages, while temper tantrums, bed wetting and the depressive syndrome only increased in the age and sex categories normally associated with these conditions. A global index of psychopathology was increased compared with controls on most subgroups of bereaved children (P < 0.0001), the highest scores for both sexes being associated with having a mentally ill (usually depressed) widowed mother. The results are discussed and suggestions made for future research.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 147 , Issue 2 , August 1985 , pp. 188 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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