title: Buffers for the bereaved: the impact of social factors on the emotional health of bereaving parents.
abstract: Emotional health of bereaving parents (N = 62; control N = 56) were explored 5 years after the death of a child (age 0-12) in Israel. The Symptom Check List-90 was utilized as the primary measurement instrument. Comparisons to controls according to geographic area of birth indicated more interpersonal (over)sensitivity, obsessive-compulsiveness and anxiety among Asia/African born parents as compared to either European/American or Israeli-born. All geographical groupings of bereaving parents indicated significantly greater somatic concerns than their respective controls. The college-educated Israeli-born bereaving parents indicated significantly healthier SCL-90 scores than similarly educated European/American-born bereaving parents. This was in contrast to the trend in which European-American-born parents (regardless of educational level) exhibited scores indicating the least symptomatology.
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000523:psychology