Patterns of mental distress following the violent death of a child and predictors of change over time

Murphy, Shirley A.; Chung, Ick-Joong; Johnson, L. Clark

doi:10.1002/nur.10060

Cited by 32 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(58 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Other studies also have found little or no evidence for this position among a variety of samples (e.g. Murphy, 1988; Murphy et al, 2002; Stroebe et al, 1996). It is possible that these studies failed to account for the dark side of social support, specifically, negative social exchanges.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Personality, negative social exchanges, and physical health among bereaved adults

Silva

Henrie

Patrick

2016

Health Psychology Open

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While much research has investigated the association between personality and health, little research has done so using a bereaved sample. Additionally, little research has investigated how personality influences the frequency of negative social exchanges bereaved individuals receive. This study utilized a structural equation model to investigate the associations among age, gender, personality, negative social exchanges, length of bereavement, and self-reported physical health in a sample of bereaved adults. Results indicated that personality was associated with negative social exchanges and physical health. Therefore, these variables are important and should be studied further in this context.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Personality, negative social exchanges, and physical health among bereaved adults

Silva

Henrie

Patrick

2016

Health Psychology Open

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Research on the effects of family relationships on bereavement has been, however, inconclusive. For example, among bereaved parents, perceived effectiveness of emotional support was reported to be associated with a decrease of PTSD over time (Murphy et al, 2003), as well as an increase in self‐esteem and lower levels of depression (Sherkat & Reed, 1992), but perceived effectiveness of emotional support was not associated with levels of mental distress (Murphy, Chung, & Johnson, 2002). In a longitudinal study of widowhood (Stroebe, Zech, Stroebe, & Abakoumkin, 2005), emotional support from family and friends was associated with lower levels of depression in general, but did not necessarily buffer stress or facilitate recovery associated with bereavement.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐Term Effects of Child Death on Parents' Health‐Related Quality of Life: A Dyadic Analysis

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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...

show abstract

“…Mean age of samples ranged between 33 and 79 and, except for one study, the majority of participants in each sample were female. Participant groups were defined as those bereaved by natural disasters [28,37,38,42,43], homicide [30][31][32]34], suicide [35,39,40,44], accidental death [36,45] or armed conflict [41]. One study was longitudinal in design (27), and measured outcomes six months after baseline measurement (at a mean of 1.66 years post-loss).…”

Section: Study Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review of studies describing the influence of informal social support on psychological wellbeing in people bereaved by sudden or violent causes of death

Scott

Pitman

Kozhuharova

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aims: Whilst any type of bereavement can be traumatic, bereavement through violent or sudden causes is associated with more severe negative health and wellbeing outcomes compared to other types of loss. Social support has been found to have a positive impact on wellbeing after traumatic events in general. However, this association appears to be less consistently demonstrated in studies that focus on bereavement, and the literature in this area has not yet been systematically reviewed. This study aimed to review the international literature to examine systematically whether there is an association between informal social support from family and friends after bereavement through sudden and/or violent causes and post-bereavement wellbeing.Methods: We conducted a systematic search for quantitative studies that tested for an association between social support and any outcome related to wellbeing after a sudden and/or violent loss. Included studies were assessed for quality, and findings were reported using the approach of narrative synthesis. The review was pre-registered on Prospero (registration number CRD42018093704).Results: We identified 16 papers that met inclusion criteria, 11 of which we assessed as being of good or fair quality and 5 as poor quality. 15 different wellbeing outcomes were measured across all studies. We found consistent evidence for an inverse association between social support and symptoms/presence of depression, predominantly consistent evidence for an inverse association between social support and symptoms/presence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and conflicting evidence for an inverse association between social support and symptoms/presence of complicated grief.Conclusions: Our systematic review identified evidence to suggest that social support after sudden or violent bereavement is associated with a reduced severity of depressive and PTSD symptoms. Further longitudinal research is needed to explore potential causality in this relationship, widening the focus from common mental disorders to include other mental illnesses, wellbeing outcomes, and suicide-related outcomes after bereavement. There is also a need for consensus on the conceptualisation and measurement of social support. Our findings imply that interventions to improve access to and quality of social support may reduce the burden of mental illness after bereavement, and may therefore be worth investing in.

show abstract

Patterns of mental distress following the violent death of a child and predictors of change over time

Cited by 32 publications

References 42 publications

Personality, negative social exchanges, and physical health among bereaved adults

Personality, negative social exchanges, and physical health among bereaved adults

Long‐Term Effects of Child Death on Parents' Health‐Related Quality of Life: A Dyadic Analysis

A systematic review of studies describing the influence of informal social support on psychological wellbeing in people bereaved by sudden or violent causes of death

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About