The focus of this study was to investigate adolescent self-concept and the reactions of 42 adolescents whose siblings had died. After completing the OfferSelf-Image Questionnaire for Adolescents (OSIQ), participants were interviewed about bereavement reactions, perceptions of their personal maturity, effects on school work; and relationships with peers. The adolescents' OSIQ scores fit the results for what Offer has termed "niormal adolescents." However, cluster analysis identified three distinct groups of adolescents clustered according to high, average, and low OSIQ scores. Discriminant analhsis was used to analyze the bereavement reactions of adolescents in these clusters. Perceptions of personal maturi ty, effects on school work and relationships with peers were also examined. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of developmental tasks facing adolescents and potential interventions to assist adolescents in coping successfully with grief.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Aldenderfer, M. S.
, & Blashfield, R. K. (1984). Cluster analysis. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
2.
Baldwin. B.
(1978). A paradigm for the classification of emotional crises: Implications for crisis intervention. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 48, 538-551.
3.
Balk, D. E. (1981). Sibling death during adolescence: Self-concept and bereavement reactions. Unpublished doctoral disscrtation, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
4.
Balk, D. E.
(1983a). Adolescents' grief reactions and self-concept perceptions following sibling death: A study of 33 teenagers. Journal of Youth andAdolescence, 12, 137-161.
5.
Balk, D. E.
(1983b). Effects of sibling death on teenagers. Journal of School Health, 53, 14-18.
6.
Balk, D. E.
(1983c). How teenagers cope with sibling death: Some implications for school counselors. The School Counselor, 31, 150-158.
7.
Balk, D. E.
(1988, August). Resolution of sibling death during adolescence: Interactions with religion. Paper presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Atlanta, GA.
8.
Bank, S. P.
, & Kahn, M. D. (1982). The sibling bond. New York: Basic Books.
9.
Beck, A. T.
, Seti, B. B., & Tuthill, R. W. (1963). Childhood bereavement and adult depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 9, 295-302.
10.
Bernstein, J. E.
(1977). Loss and how to cope with it. New York: Seabury.
11.
Bloom, B. L.
(1965). Definitional aspects of the crisis concept. In H. Parad (Ed.), Crisis intervention: Selected readinigs (pp. 303-311). New York: Family Service Association of America.
12.
Bloom, B. L.
(1977). Community mental health: A general introduction. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
13.
Bradford, L.
(1986). Can you survive your retirement? In R. H. Moos (Ed.), Coping with life crises: An integrated approach (pp. 211-219). New York: Plenum. (Reprinted from Harvard BusinessReview, 1979,57, 103-109)
14.
Burgess, A. W.
, & Holmstrom, L. L. (1986). Adaptive strategies and recovery from rape. In R. H. Moos (Ed.), Coping with life crises: An integrated approach (pp. 353-365). New York: Plenum. (Reprinted from American Journal of Psychiatry, 1979, 136, 1278-1282)
15.
Cain, A.
, Fast, I., & Erickson, M. (1964). Children's disturbed reactions to the death of a sibling. American Journal of Orthopsvchiatry, 34, 741-752.
16.
Cobb, B.
(1956). Psychological impact of long illness and death of a child on the family circle. Journal of Pediatrics, 49, 746-751.
17.
Danish, S. J.
, & D'Augelli, A. R. (1980). Promoting competence and enhancing development through life development intervention. In L. A. Bond & J. C. Rosen (Eds.), Primary prevention ofpsvchopathology (Vol. 5, pp. 105-129). Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.
18.
Datan. N.
. & Ginsberg, L. (Eds.). (1975). Life-span developmentalpsychology: Normative life crises. New York: Academic Press.
19.
Erikson. E.
(1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.
20.
Erikson, E.
(1958). Younig man Luther. New York: Norton.
21.
Erikson, E.
(1964). Insight and responsibility: Lectures on the ethical implications of psychoanalytic insight. New York: Norton.
22.
Erikson, E.
(1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
23.
Fleming, S. J.
, & Adolph, R. (1986). Helping bereaved adolescents: Needs and responses. In C. A. Corr & J. N. McNeil (Eds.), Adolescence and death (pp. 151-166). New York: Springer.
24.
Fowler, J. W.
(1976). Stages in faith: The structural-developmental approach. In T. Hennessy (Ed.), lValues and moral development. New York: Paulist Press.
25.
Fowler, J. W.
(1981). Stages of faith: The psychology of human development and the quest for meatinlg. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
26.
Furman, J.
, & Pratt, J. (1985, January-February). Coping with ultimate change, death of a family member: A support group for adolescents. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of Social Workers, New Orleans, LA.
27.
Goodman, R. A. (1986). Adolescent grief characteristics when a parent dies. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Colorado, Boulder.
28.
Gray, R. E. (1 987a). Adolescents faced with the death of a parent: The role of social support and other factors. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, Canada.
29.
Gray, R. E.
(1987b). Adolescent response to the death of a parent. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16, 511-525.
30.
Gray, R. E.
(1988). The role of school counselors with bereaved teenagers: With and without peer support groups. The School Couinselor, 35, 185-193.
31.
Guerriero, M. (1983). Adolescent bereavement: Impact onphysicalhealth, self-concept, depression, and death anxiety. Unpublished master's thesis, York University, Toronto, Canada.
32.
Heath. C. P.
(1985, April). Helping children understand and cope with death. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Las Vegas, NV.
33.
Hilgard, J. R.
(1974). Depressive and psychotic states as anniversaries of a sibling death in childhood. International Psvchiatry Clinics, 6, 197-211.
34.
Hogan, N. S. (1987). An investigation of the adolescent bereavement process and adaptation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Loyola University. Chicago, IL.
35.
Hogan, N. S.
(in press). Hogan Sibling Inventory of Bereavement. In J. Touliatos, B. Perlmutter, & M. Straus (Eds.), Handbook offamily measurement techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
36.
Hogan, N. S., & Balk, D. E. (1988). Self concept and grief reactions of teenagers following sibling death: Perceptions of mothers, fathers, and adolescents. Manuscript submitted for publication.
37.
Klecka, W. R.
(1975). Discriminant analysis. In N. H. Nie, C. H. Hull, J. G. Jenkins, K. Steinbrenner, & D. H. Bent (Eds.), SPSS: Statistical package for the social sciences. (2nd ed., pp. 434-467). New York: McGraw-Hill.
38.
Klecka, W. R.
(1980). Discriminant analysis. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
39.
Kliman, G.
(1980). Death: Some implications in child development and child analysis.Advances in Tlhanatology, 4, 43-50.
40.
Kohlberg, L.
(1975). The cognitive-developmental approach to moral education. Phi Delta Kappan, 46, 670-677.
41.
Kohlberg, L.
, & Gilligan, C. (1971). The adolescent as a philosopher: The discovery of the self in a postconventional world. Daedalus, 100, 1051-1086.
42.
Krell, R.
, & Rabkin, L. (1979). The effects of sibling death on the surviving child. Family Process, 18, 471-477.
43.
Kressel, K.
(1986). Patterns of coping in divorce. In R. H. Moos (Ed.), Coping with life crises: An integrated approach (pp. 145-153). New York: Plenum.
44.
Lagrand, L.
(1986). Coping with separation and loss as a young adult: Theoretical and practical realities. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
45.
Lifton, R. J.
, & Olsen, E. (1986). The human meaning of total disaster: The Buffalo Creek disaster. In R. H. Moos (Ed.), Coping with life crises: An integrated approach (pp. 307-321). New York: Plenum. (Reprinted from Psychiatry, 1976, 39, 1-18)
46.
Lindemann, E.
(1944). Symptomatology and management of acute grief. American Journal of Psychiatry, 101, 141-148.
47.
Lorr, M.
(1976). Cluster and typological analysis. In P. M. Bentler, D. J. Lettieri, & G. A. Austin (Eds.), Data analysis strategies and designs for substance abuse research (pp. 103-124). Rockville. MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
48.
Marcia, J. E.
(1966). Development and validation of ego identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551-558.
49.
Martinson,M.
, Davies. E. B., & McClowry, S. G. (1987). The long-term effects of sibling death on self-concept. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 2, 227-235.
50.
Miles, M. S.
, & Crandall, E. K. B. (1986). The search for meaning and its potential for affecting growth in bereaved parents. In R. H. Moos (Ed.), Coping with life crises: An integrated approach (pp. 235-243). New York: Plenum. (Reprinted from Health Values: Achieving High Level WVellness, 1983, 7, 19-23).
51.
Moos, R. H.
(Ed.). (1986). Coping with life crises: An integrated approach. New York: Plenum.
52.
Moos, R. H.
, & Schaefer, J. A. (1986). Life transitions and crises: A conceptual overview. In R. H. Moos (Ed.), Coping with life crises: An integrated approach (pp. 3-28). New York: Plenum.
53.
Morawetz, A.
(1982). The impact on adolescents of the death in war of an older sibling: A group experience. Series in Clinical and Community Psychiatry: Stress andAnxiety, 8, 267-274.
54.
Norusis, M.
(1985). SPSS: Advanced statistics guide. New York: McGraw Hill.
55.
Offer, D.
(1969). The psychological world of the teenager. New York: Basic Books.
56.
Offer, D.
, Ostrov, E., & Howard, K. 1. (1977). The Offer Self-Image Questionnaire for Adolescents: A manual. Chicago: Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center.
57.
Osterweis, M.
, Solomon, F., & Green, M. (1984). Bereavement: Reactions, consequences, and care. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
58.
Parad, H. J.
(Ed.). (1965). Crisis intervention: Selected readings. New York: Family Service Association of America.
59.
Paranjpe, A. C.
(1975). In search of identity. New York: Wiley.
60.
Parkes, C. M.
(1971). Psycho-social transitions: A field study. Social Science and Medicine, 5, 101-115.
61.
Parkes, C. M.
(1972). Bereavement: Studies of grief in adult life. New York: International Universities Press.
62.
Parkes, C. M.
(1975). Unexpected and untimely bereavement: A statistical study of young Boston widows and widowers. In B. Schoenberg, I. Gerber, A. Wiener, A. H. Kutscher, D. Peretz, & A. C. Carr (Eds.), Bereavement: Its psychological aspects (pp. 119-138). New York: Columbia University Press.
63.
Piaget, J.
(1950). Psychology of intelligence. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
64.
Piaget, J.
, & Inhelder, B. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood through adolescence. New York: Basic Books.
65.
Pollock, G.
(1978). On siblings, childhood sibling loss and creativity. Annual ofPsychoanalysis, 6, 443-481.
66.
Poznanski, E. O.
(1979). Childhood depression: A psychodynamic approach to the etiology and treatment of depression in children. In A. P. French & 1. N. Berlin (Eds.), Depression in children and adolescents (pp. 46-68). New York: Human Sciences Press.
67.
Rice, F. P.
(1987). The adolescent: Development, relationships, and culture (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
68.
Rochlin, G.
(1965). Grief and discontents: The forces of change. Boston: Little, Brown.
69.
Rosen, H.
(1985). Unspoken grief: Coping with childhood sibling loss. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
70.
Silver, R. L.
, & Wortman, C. B. (1980). Coping with undesirable life events. In J. Garber & M. E. P. Seligman (Eds.), Human helplessness: Theory and applications (pp. 279-340). New York: Academic Press.
71.
Silverman, P. R.
(1988). Widow-to-widow: A mutual help program for the bereaved. In R. H. Price, E. L. Cowen, R. P. Lorian, & J. Ramos-McKay (Eds.), 14 ounces of prevention: A casebook for practitioners (pp. 175-186). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
72.
Sprinthall, N. A.
(1976). Learning psychology doing psychology. In G. D. Miller (Ed.), Developmental education, St. Paul: Minnesota Department of Education.
73.
Sprinthall, N. A.
, & Collins, W. A. (1988). Adolescent psychology: A developmental view (2nd ed.). New York: Random House.
74.
Tatsuoka, M.
(1970). Discriminant analysis: The study of group differences. Champaign, IL: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing.
75.
Waterman, A.
(1985). Identity in adolescence: Processes and contents. NewDirectionsfor Child Development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
76.
Wiseman, J. P.
(1986). The "home treatment": The first steps in trying to cope with an alcoholic husband. In R. H. Moos (Ed.), Coping with life crises: An integrated approach (pp. 263-275). New York: Plenum. (Reprinted from Family Relations, 1980, 29, 541-549).
