Determinants of Filipino children's responses to the death of a sibling

Abstract

Well school-age children (N = 73) who had experienced the death of a sibling within one year of data collection were interviewed. Their reactions were related to the deceased sibling's age, nature of death, time interval since death, sex of child, and socioeconomic status. Subjects were located through registries of five hospitals and five municipalities of Rizal Province, Philippines. In addition to the interview, children produced stories about nine projective test pictures. Results showed that school grades dropped significantly after the sibling's death. Children's responses reflected three stages: (1) shock, disbelief, denial (10%); (2) guilt, protest, sadness (50%); and (3) acceptance and recovery (40%). Chi-square tests showed that Stage 1 was significantly associated with a younger age of the deceased sibling, more recent death (less than or equal to 6 months), and lower social class. With regard to the projective story themes, children whose siblings died suddenly (compared to those whose deaths were anticipated) had significantly higher loneliness themes. Children whose deceased siblings were of school age also gave significantly more death themes than children whose deceased siblings were younger.