Childhood Bereavement: Psychopathology in the 2 Years Postparental Death

Cerel, Julie; Fristad, Mary A.; Verducci, Joseph S.; Weller, Ronald A.; Weller, Elizabeth B.

doi:10.1097/01.chi.0000215327.58799.05

Cited by 193 publications

(164 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…This result is in contradiction to other findings [6,27], but is limited by the small number of appropriate cases in the present study. Moreover, the result must be seen in the light of lower parental reports of child's symptoms compared to self-reports, as known from the extant literature about childhood bereavement following parental death [10].…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Impact of life events on child mental health before school entry at age six

Fürniss

Beyer

Müller

2009

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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The study examined the association between life events and early child mental health prior to school entry. The impact of single life events and the cumulative effect of multiple life events on child mental health were examined. In a northern German city, the complete 1-year intake of preschool children at the primary school entry assessment was included. In 1,887 children, life events and psychiatric symptoms were recorded by means of standardized parent questionnaires. Included were all life events between child's birth and school entry. For more than 80 percent of all children, at least one life event was reported. The number of life events was independent of any demographic variable; the mean was 2.2. The number of life events had a highly significant effect on the prevalence of child mental health problems. Six family-change-factors, especially coherent in content, could be identified by factor analysis. The study provides important data on the epidemiology and clinical impact of life events and psychopathology in early childhood. For child mental health, the cumulative effect of multiple life events was found to be much more important than the effect of specific single life events.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Impact of life events on child mental health before school entry at age six

Fürniss

Beyer

Müller

2009

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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“…Other factors that may contribute further to suicidal risk are pre-morbid parental psychopathology (49), traumatic exposure predisposing to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the development of complicated grief (prolonged negative affect and rumination about the loss), which in turn has been shown to predispose to suicidal ideation in young adults (75). However, empirical data does not support a specific relationship between parent loss due to suicide and suicidal behavior in the child, compared to parent loss due to other causes (76)(77)(78)(79). Moreover, the association between child completed suicide and parental attempted suicide suggests that, while bereavement and loss may play a small role in the overall effect of familial transmission, the majority of the familial effect is due to some other mechanism.…”

Section: Parental Bereavementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Familial Transmission of Suicidal Behavior

Brent¹,

Melhem²

2008

Psychiatric Clinics of North America

257

199

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Suicide and suicidal behavior is highly familial, and appears to be familially transmitted independently from the familial transmission of psychiatric disorder per se (1). Adoption, twin, and family studies support the view that the etiology of the familial transmission of suicidal behavior is at least in part genetic, and may be mediated by the transmission of intermediate phenotypes, such as impulsive aggression. In addition, there may be environmental causes for familial transmission, including imitation, and the intergenerational transmission of family adversity. In this review, we cover the evidence supporting the familial transmission of suicidal behavior, possible genetic and environmental explanations for this phenomenom, describe putative intermediate phenotypes, and discuss the contributory roles of early child-rearing and concurrent familial environmental stressors to suicidal risk. A better understanding of the mechanisms for the familial transmission of suicidal behavior can help to shed light on etiology, identify individuals at high risk for the development of incident suicidal behavior, and frame targets for intervention and prevention.Adoption studies (see Table 1) Three adoption studies have been conducted, all using the same Danish adoption registry. Kety et al., in a study designed to examine the genetics of schizophrenia and mood disorders, found a non-significant trend towards higher concordance for suicide in biological, compared to adoptive relatives of adoptees who committed suicide (2). Subsequently, a second study compared the rates of suicide among the biological and adoptive relatives of adoptees who committed suicide vs. biological and adoptive relatives of a matched living adoptee control group in Denmark (3). This study found a six-fold higher rate of suicide in the biological relatives of the suicide vs. those of the control adoptees, and an absence of suicide among the adopted relatives of the suicide vs. control adoptees supporting a genetic rather than environmental etiology (see Table 1). The rate of suicide was higher in the biologic relatives of suicide adoptees regardless of whether the adoptees were psychiatric patients or not. However, it was not possible to determine if the genetic liability to suicide was attributable to the transmission of major psychiatric disorders or to a suicide diathesis per se.In a third adoption study using this registry, a comparison of biological and adoptive relatives of adult adoptees with mood disorder and matched unaffected adoptees were examined (4), revealed a 15-fold increase in suicide among the biological relatives of the mood-disordered adoptees vs. those of the unaffected adoptees (4). This finding supports the role of mood disorder in the genetics of suicide. However, the greatest increased risk for suicidal behavior was found in the relatives of those probands with "affect reaction," a diagnosis akin to Corresponding Author: Dr. David Brent, BrentDA@upmc.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript th...

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“…Children and adolescents who experience early parental loss are at greater risk for such negative outcomes as depression, anxiety, poor academic performance, and somatic complaints (Cerel et al, 2006;Dowdney, 2000;Tyrka et al 2008;Worden, 1996). Having a parent die before a child turns 18 years old is also associated with early mortality (Li et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overlooked and underserved: Widowed fathers with dependent-age children

et al. 2014

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Objective: Widowed fathers and their children are at heightened risk for poor coping and maladaptive psychosocial outcomes. This exploratory study is the first to explicitly examine the psychological characteristics of this population of fathers.Method: Some 259 fathers (mean age ¼ 46.81; 90% Caucasian) with dependent-age children and whose wives had died from cancer within the previous five years completed a web-based survey that consisted of demographic questions, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES -D), the Texas Inventory of Grief -Revised (TRIG -R), the Psychological Adaptation Scale (PAS), the Kansas Parental Satisfaction Scale (KPSS), and items assessing perceived parental efficacy.Results: Fathers were found to have elevated depressive (CES -D mean ¼ 22.6) and grief (TRIG -R mean ¼ 70.3) symptomatology, low adaptation (PAS mean ¼ 3.2), and high levels of stress related to their parenting role. They reported being satisfied with their parenting (KPSS mean ¼ 15.8) and having met their own parental expectations. Multivariate analyses revealed an association between father's age and depression ( p ¼ ,0.01), with younger fathers reporting greater depressive symptoms. Psychological adaptation was positively correlated with being in a romantic relationship ( p ¼ 0.02) and age of oldest child ( p ¼ 0.02).Significance of results: The results of our exploratory study suggest that, while widowed fathers perceive themselves as meeting their parental responsibilities, it comes at a substantial psychological cost, with particularly high stress related to being a sole parent. These findings may help guide interventions for this neglected population and underscore the importance of developing targeted therapies and research protocols to address their needs.

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Childhood Bereavement: Psychopathology in the 2 Years Postparental Death

Cited by 193 publications

References 28 publications

Impact of life events on child mental health before school entry at age six

Impact of life events on child mental health before school entry at age six

Familial Transmission of Suicidal Behavior

Overlooked and underserved: Widowed fathers with dependent-age children

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