title: Parent-child communication in widowed families.
abstract: When a parent dies the surviving parent and children are often unable to work together to cope with the loss. We propose that this situation arises from their inability to accept the finality of death. Parents and children have difficulty adjusting to life without the deceased because of their expectation that he or she will return.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D010287:Parent-Child Relations