The impact of the death of an adult child on elderly parents has received little attention. Yet, findings indicate that 10 percent of all elderly parents had a child die after the parent was age sixty. Five generic themes evoked by the death of a child are explored: untimeliness, uniqueness of the parent-child bond, impact on intergenerational relations, loss of social supports, and hope for the future. Implications for research, clinical intervention, and planning are outlined.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
NeugartenB. L., Personality and Aging, in Handbook of the Psychology of Aging, BirrenJ. E.SchaieK. W. (eds.), Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, 1977.
2.
BaltesP. B.ReeseH. W.LipsittL. P., Life-Span Developmental Psychology, Annual Reivew of Psychology, 3, pp. 51–76, 1980.
3.
NeugartenB. L., Adaptation and the Life Cycle, Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 4, pp. 71–87, 1970.
4.
RaphaelB., The Anatomy of Bereavement, Basic Books, New York, 1983.
5.
SchiffH. S., The Bereaved Parent, Crown, New York, 1977.
6.
BengtsonV. L.TreasJ., The Changing Family Context of Mental Health and Aging, in Handbook of Mental Health and Aging, BirrenJ. E.SloaneR. B. (eds.), Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1980.
7.
HerzF., The Impact of Death and Serious Illness on the Family Life Cycle, in The Family Life Cycle: A Framework for Family Therapy, CarterE. A.McGoldrickM. (eds.), Gardner Press, Inc., New York, 1980.
8.
LevavI., Mortality and Psychopathology Following the Death of an Adult Child: An Epidemiological Review, Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 19, pp. 23–38, 1982.
9.
PurismanR.MaozB., Adjustment and War Bereavement: Some Considerations, British Journal of Medical Psychology, 50, pp. 1–9, 1977.
10.
SchoolerK., National Senior Citizens Survey, 1968, Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1979.
11.
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Current Patterns of Dependency, Statistical Bulletin, 58, 1977.
12.
ShanasE., The Family as a Social Support System of Old Age, The Gerontologist, 19, pp. 169–174, 1979.
13.
U. S. Comptroller General, The Well-Being of Older People in Cleveland, Ohio, U. S. General Accounting Office, Washington, D.C., 1977.
14.
StubH. R., The Social Consequences of Long Life, Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1982.
15.
BrodyE. M., The Formal Support Networks: Congregate Treatment Setting for Residents with Senescent Brain Dysfunction, in Aging: Clinical Aspects of Alzheimer's Disease and Senile Dementia, MillerN. E.CohenG. D. (eds.), Raven Press, New York, 1981.
16.
BrodyE. M., The Aging Family, The Gerontologist, 6, pp. 201–206, 1966.
17.
AriesP., The Hour of Our Death, Knopf, New York, 1981.
18.
GorerG., Death, Grief and Mourning, Doubleday, New York, 1967.
19.
SandersC. M., A Comparison of Adult Bereavement in the Death of a Spouse, Child, and Parent, Omega, 10, pp. 303–322, 1979–80.
20.
BowlbyJ.ParkesC. M., Separation and Loss within the Family, in The Child in His Family, AnthonyE. J.KoupernikC. (eds.), John Wiley, New York, 1970.
21.
Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, The Joys and Sorrows of Parenthood, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1973.
22.
van Lawick-GoodallJ., In the Shadow of Man, Houghton Mifflin & Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 1971.
23.
BenedekT., Parenthood During the Life Cycle, in Parenthood: Its Psychology and Psychopathology, AnthonyE. J.BenedekT. (eds.), Little, Brown & Co., Boston, Massachusetts, 1970.
24.
MoffatM. J. (ed.), In the Midst of Winter: Selections from the Literature of Mourning, Random House, New York, 1982.
25.
ZimmermanJ. P., The Bereaved Parent, in Acute Grief: Counseling the Bereaved, MargolisO. S.RaetherH. C.KutscherA. H.PowersJ. B.SeelandI. B.DeBellisR.ChericoD. J. (eds.), Columbia University Press, New York, 1981.
