“…The effect of early loss has been thought so critical to development that much research has been devoted to studying psychological outcomes of bereaved children (Berlinsky & Biller, 1982; Finkelstein, 1988; Tennant, Bebbington, & Hurry, 1981). Developmental theories, retrospective analyses of depressed adults, and an intuitive sense of trauma following early loss have led researchers to try repeatedly to link this experience with adult depression (Barnes & Prosen, 1985; Finkelstein, 1988; Klerman & Weissman, 1986) and other adult psychopathology (Brown, 1966; Dietrich, 1984; Wilson, Alltop, & Buffaloe, 1967). To date, most of this research has been limited in that it has failed to account for confounding variables associated with loss, including age at time of loss, gender of deceased parent, cause of death, time elapsed between loss and assessment, and quality of relationship with deceased and surviving parents (Berlinsky & Biller, 1982; Tennant et al, 1981).…”