Family Distancing following a Fatal Farm Accident

Abstract

Interviews in twenty-one farm families following a fatal accident identified factors involved in bereaved family members becoming more distant from one another. This article explores five of the distancing factors: 1) How blaming and fear of blame can produce distancing; 2) How the economic crisis that exists for a farm family when the farm operator is killed produces family distance, particularly intergenerationally; 3) The distancing effects of family differences over the expression of feelings; 4) The distancing effects of the preoccupation and emotional flatness of bereavement; and 5) The role of kinship beliefs and attitudes in producing distance among bereaved in-laws.