title: Cause of death and the quest for meaning after the loss of a child.
abstract: This study examined patterns of making meaning among 155 parents whose children died from a variety of violent and non-violent causes. Findings indicated 53% of violent loss survivors could not make sense of their loss, as compared to 32% of non-violent loss survivors. Overall, there was overlap in sense-making strategies across different causes of death, with many parents invoking spiritual and religious meanings and the cultivation of empathy for the suffering of others. Nonetheless, violent loss survivors described the imperfection of the world and brevity of life more frequently in their narrative responses than parents who lost a child to natural causes, who in turn were more likely to find benefit in the loss in terms of personal growth. Violent loss survivors--and especially those losing a child to homicide--also reported enhanced appreciation of life more frequently than survivors of non-violent losses, and surviving a child's suicide was specifically associated with a change in priorities in the sample. Findings are discussed in terms of common and distinctive themes in meaning making that clinicians may encounter when working with parental bereavement, and the implications these carry for finding spiritual and secular significance in a traumatic loss.
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA. lichtenw@mskcc.org
authors: Wendy G
authors: WG
authors: Lichtenthal
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
authors: Robert A
authors: RA
authors: Neimeyer
authors: Clinical Psychology Department, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, USA.
authors: Joseph M
authors: JM
authors: Currier
authors: Department of Psychology, The New School for Social Research, New York, New York, USA.
authors: Kailey
authors: K
authors: Roberts
authors: Memphis Veteran's Administration Medical Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
authors: Nancy
authors: N
authors: Jordan
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D015144:Southeastern United States; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology