Factors associated with filial grief following the death of an elderly parent.
Initial and residual grief reactions were assessed in a group of 220 adults, aged 35-60, who had experienced the death of a parent one to five years previously. Reactions to the loss were found to have sustained effects on social and emotional functioning, with lack of filial autonomy in the adult parent-child relationship and unexpectedness of the parent's death emerging as the strongest predictors of unresolved grief. Theoretical implications are considered and directions for further research are proposed.
Scharlach
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AE
School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010553:Personality Development