Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2008 Apr;22(2):203-11.
doi: 10.1037/0893-3200.22.2.203.

Long-term effects of the death of a child on parents' adjustment in midlife

Catherine H Rogers  1 , Frank J Floyd, Marsha Mailick Seltzer, Jan Greenberg, Jinkuk Hong
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Long-term effects of the death of a child on parents' adjustment in midlife

Catherine H Rogers et al. J Fam Psychol. 2008 Apr.

Abstract

The death of a child is a traumatic event that can have long-term effects on the lives of parents. This study examined bereaved parents of deceased children (infancy to age 34) and comparison parents with similar backgrounds (n = 428 per group) identified in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. An average of 18.05 years following the death, when parents were age 53, bereaved parents reported more depressive symptoms, poorer well-being, and more health problems and were more likely to have experienced a depressive episode and marital disruption than were comparison parents. Recovery from grief was associated with having a sense of life purpose and having additional children but was unrelated to the cause of death or the amount of time since the death. The results point to the need for detection and intervention to help those parents who are experiencing lasting grief.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prediction of depressive symptoms by purpose in life. CES-D = Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 4th ed., text rev. Washington, DC: Author; 2000.
    1. Becvar DS. Families experiencing death, dying, and bereavement. In: Nichols WC, Pace-Nichols MA, editors. Handbook of family development and intervention. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley; 2000. pp. 453–470.
    1. Bohannon J. Grief responses of spouses following the death of a child: A longitudinal study. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying. 1991;22:109–121.
    1. Bowlby J. Loss, sadness, and depression. New York: Basic Books; 1980.
    1. Emmons RA, Colby PM, Kaiser HA. When losses lead to gains: Personal goals and the recovery of meaning. In: Wong PTP, Fry PS, editors. The human quest for meaning: A handbook of psychological research and clinical applications. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum; 1998. pp. 163–178.

Publication types

MeSH terms