As part of a longitudinal study of 25 preadolescent kibbutz children who lost their fathers during the October War of 1973, child, family, and circumstantial variables were examined in an effort to assess their relative contribution to the intense emotional disturbance exhibited by half of the group. Findings suggest that pretraumatic family and environmental factors are significant determinants of the duration and severity of bereavement.

No abstract

No abstract

This article examines the comparative prevalence of grief reactions, behavioral symptoms and 'pathological bereavement' in 25 kibbutz and 21 non-kibbutz children aged between 3 1/2 and 11 1/2 yr eighteen months after the death of the father in war. The findings indicate that in both kibbutz and urban settings the loss of a father becomes a serious traumatic situation for a large proportion of the children, influencing multiple areas of functioning and causing manifold behavioral symptoms. The particular differences regarding the quality of the reactive symptoms exhibited by kibbutz and non-kibbutz children appear to be related to the different sociocultural surrounding influences.

No abstract