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The Bereaved Child

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Michele M. Van Eerdewegh ,
Michael D. Bieri ,
Ramon H. Parrilla  and
Paula J. Clayton
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
Michael D. Bieri
Affiliation:
Washington University School of Medicine, Malcolm Bliss Mental Health Center, 1420 Gratten Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63104
Ramon H. Parrilla
Affiliation:
Ponce, Puerto Rico 00731
Paula J. Clayton
Affiliation:
Washington University School of Medicine, 4940 Audubon Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63110 currently chairperson, Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455
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Summary

This is a one-year prospective study of one hundred and five 2 to 17 year old children of a consecutive sample of young widows and widowers in the community and of the children of controls. The children's reactions to the parental death were recorded at one month and thirteen months after the event in a structured interview with the surviving parent. The interview included items of general adaption to the death, school performance, behaviour problems, symptoms relevant to psychopathological manifestations (depression, anxiety, etc.) and general health. The results indicate a significant increase of dysphoria which disappears over time (P <0.0001), the persistance of a minor form of depression (P <0.03), an increase in bed wetting (P <0.03), and a significant degree of impairment in school performance (P <0.0001). There were no significant increases in behaviour problems and severe forms of depression. The children's general health was not affected. Those results are compared to currently available data on childhood bereavement and discussed in the light of conflicting reports relating parental loss to adult psychopathology.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 140 , Issue 1 , January 1982 , pp. 23 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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