In the grief and bereavement literature, the discussion of acceptance often regards it as an end-point of the process and utilizes a definition that is linked to duration and intensity of grief. The study of parent death is no exception. Adult children are rarely asked whether or why they have or have not accepted the death of an elderly parent, or even what acceptance means to them. The extent to which such studies accurately report on the experience of parent death acceptance is questionable. Using ethnographic and linguistic techniques, this study approaches acceptance through a qualitative examination of adult children's verbatim responses to direct inquiries about their acceptance of an elderly parent's death. Findings indicate that while the majority of adult children readily assert acceptance of their parent's death, these assertions are contingent upon important beliefs and values relating to the death, the power of feelings, and the strength of memory. Further, and most important, acceptance appears to be a phenomenon adult children feel compelled to explain.
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