Guided by a life course perspective, attachment theory, and gender theory, this study aims to examine the impact of death of a father, a mother, or both parents, as well as continuously living with one or both parents dead (in contrast to having two parents alive) on multiple dimensions of psychological well-being (depressive symptoms, happiness, self-esteem, mastery, and psychological wellness), alcohol abuse (binge drinking), and physical health (self-assessed health). Analyses of longitudinal data from. 8,865 adults in the National Survey of Families and Households 1987-1993 reveal that a father's death leads to more negative effects for sons than daughters and a mother's death leads to more negative effects for daughters than sons. Problematic effects of parent loss are reflected more in men's physical health reports than women's. This study's results suggest that family researchers and practitioners working with aging families should not underestimate the impact of filial bereavement on adult well-being. Keywords bereavement; parent death; psychological well-being; depression; health With increased contemporary life expectancy in most developed countries, it is most typical now for individuals to experience the death of parents during adulthood rather than childhood (Watkins, Menken, & Bongaarts, 1987;Winsborough, Bumpass, & Aquilino, 1991). Therefore, most adults have longstanding life course attachment ties and affectional bonds with their parents both as children and adults before the death of first one parent, and then the second parent, occurs. The death of parents is a typical life course transition for adults, yet surprisingly little research has examined the impact of parent loss during adulthood on psychological and physical well-being.Previous research has indicated that parent loss in childhood is associated with significant problematic consequences (Bowlby, 1980;Harris, 1995) and that loss of other significant family members during adulthood, such as a spouse or child, is associated with significant negative effects on well-being (Genevro, Marshall, & Miller, 2004). Thus, it is surprising that filial bereavement and its potential consequences for adult well-being have hot received more systematic research attention. The overall aim of this study was to contribute to a population Please address correspondence to Nadine F. Marks, Human Development and Family Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1430 Linden Drive, Madison, WI, 53706-1575 e-mail: marks@ssc.wisc perspective on the impact of death of a mother, death of a father, death of both parents, and living without one or both parents alive (in contrast to having both parents alive) on adults' psychological well-being and physical health by examining this issue with a prospective design, using data from a U.S. national sample. We also sought to better understand how gender influences the effects of parental death on adults. Theoretical Background From Isolated Nuclear Families to Life Course Intergenerational AttachmentsGuiding the...

Using population data, this study included parents of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD, n = 220) and parents of individuals without disabilities (n = 1042). Parents of individuals with IDD were further divided into those who co-resided with their adult child and those whose adult child lived elsewhere, and the three groups were compared regarding parental patterns of attainment, social participation, psychological functioning, and health in midlife and early old age. In midlife, parents of individuals with IDD were mainly similar to comparison parents. However, by early old age, these parents had poorer health and mental health. Co-residence between the adult with IDD and the parent was prevalent during midlife (51.4%) and in the early years of old age (38.6%), and there were different patterns of parental outcomes depending on the residential status of the adult with IDD.

This study examines the long-term effects of child death on bereaved parents' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we compared 233 bereaved couples and 229 comparison couples (mean age = 65.11 years) and examined the life course effects of child death on parents' HRQoL. Variations in bereavement effects were examined by gender and for different causes of death. Bereaved parents had significantly worse HRQoL than comparison group parents, and there was no evidence of gender differences for this effect. With respect to the cause of a child's death, bereaved parents whose child died in violent circumstances had particularly low levels of HRQoL. Multilevel models indicated that marital closeness mitigated the negative effects of bereavement. KeywordsCouple data; Death; Health; Marital closeness; Multilevel models Long-term Effects of Child Death on Parents' Health-Related Quality of Life: A Dyadic Analysis of Married CouplesThe death of a child disrupts parents' health and well-being both during the acute phase of bereavement and for extended periods over the course of their lives. Studies have found that, compared to other parents, bereaved parents experience more emotional distress (Dyregrov, Nordanger, & Dyregrov, 2003; Lohan & Murphy, 2005 (Moriarty, Carroll, & Cotroneo, 1996), more frequent psychiatric hospitalizations (Li, Laursen, Precht, Olsen, & Mortensen, 2005), a higher rate of certain types of cancers (Levav et al., 2000), and higher mortality (Li, Precht, Mortenson, & Olsen, 2003) than non-bereaved parents. Some studies have found that bereavement also causes considerable stress on the parents' marital relationship and has been associated with high rates of divorce (Lehman, Wortman, & Williams, 1987;Najman et al., 1993). However, other evidence suggests that marital disruption might be no more likely for these couples than for other parents (Murphy, Johnson, Wu, Fan, & Lohan, 2003;Oliver, 1999). Also, some parents have reported that experiencing grief together as a couple strengthened their marital bond (Schwab, 1998).To date, there has been relatively little research on parental bereavement that specifically examines the role of marital quality in recovery from grief. Furthermore, most research that has examined marital quality focuses on the occurrence of divorce, examines impacts over a relatively short period of time, and neglects the potential role of marital support in coping with bereavement. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the long-term adaptation of couples who experienced the death of a child and to examine marital quality as a source of support in coping with bereavement.This investigation builds upon an earlier report (Rogers, Floyd, Seltzer, Greenberg, & Hong, 2008) in which we investigated the long term outcomes of parental bereavement for men and women who participated in the third wave (1992/94) of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS;Hauser & Roan, 2006). The investigation was unusual in examining b...

Although a large literature analyzes the determinants of child mortality and suggests policy and medical interventions aimed at its reduction, there is little existing analysis illuminating the consequences of child mortality for other family members. In particular, there is little evidence exploring the consequences of experiencing the death of a sibling on one’s own development and transition to adulthood. This article examines the prevalence and consequences of experiencing a sibling death during one’s childhood using two U.S. data sets. We show that even in a rich developed country, these experiences are quite common, affecting between 5 % and 8 % of the children with one or more siblings in our two data sets. We then show that these experiences are associated with important reductions in years of schooling as well as a broad range of adult socioeconomic outcomes. Our findings also suggest that sisters are far more affected than brothers and that the cause of death is an important factor in sibling effects. Overall, our findings point to important previously unexamined consequences of child mortality, adding to the societal costs associated with childhood mortality as well as suggesting additional benefits from policy and medical innovations aimed at curbing both such deaths and subsequent effects on family members.

A life-course theoretical perspective guided this study to examine how effects on mental and physical health (depressive symptoms, hostility, global happiness, self-esteem, personal mastery, psychological wellness, self-rated physical health) of transitioning into filial caregiving for a sole surviving parent are moderated by prior relationship quality, filial obligation, race or ethnicity, education, income, employment status, marital status, and parental status. Results from models estimated using longitudinal data from 1,060 adults aged 25 to 65 years at baseline (National Survey of Families and Households, 1987 to 1994) suggested that life-course and contextual factors do contribute to patterning health risks of caregiving, often in different ways for men and women: For example, low income puts daughter caregivers at greater risk for decline in physical health, combining employment with filial caregiving is more problematic for daughters' mental health, and being an unmarried filial caregiver is more problematic for men. Heterogeneity in the experience of filial care needs further attention in future research. Keywordscaregiving; parent; mental health; physical health; filial Assuming the role of caregiver for a frail or disabled parent is becoming an increasingly probable occurrence for both women and men traversing middle adulthood (Brody 1990;Marks 1996; National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP 2004;Stone, Cafferata, and Sangl 1987), and providing care to disabled elderly parents has been linked to considerable strain, burden, psychological distress, and sometimes poorer health (e.g., Brody 1990; George and Gwyther 1986;Horowitz 1985;Hoyert and Seltzer 1992;Pinquart and Sorensen 2003;Schulz, Visintainer, and Williamson 1990;Schulz and Williamson 1991;Stephens and Townsend 1997;Young and Kahana 1989). Overall, most studies suggest that women providing parent care experience more burden and distress than men (Montgomery 1992;Yee and Schulz 2000). A number of additional life-course contextual factors beyond gender that might moderate the effects of filial caregiving have been suggested and to some extent examined, for NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript example, race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, relationship quality, attitudes toward filial responsibility, marital status, parenthood status, and employment status. However, a systematic examination of all of these moderators across a national sample of caregivers has not been previously undertaken.The transition into filial caregiving has been the least frequently studied phase of the caregiving career to date, because it requires a prospective research design. The aim of this study was to contribute to a population and life-course perspective on filial caregiving by using longitudinal U.S. national data to examine how multiple psychosocial life-course contextual factorsgender, relationship quality, filial obligation, race or ethnicity, educational attainment, household income, marital status, employment,...