Patterns of Change following Parent Death in Midlife Adults

Abstract

Forty midlife adults, twenty-two women and eighteen men, who had experienced the loss of a parent were interviewed in order to study the long-term impact of parent death. The sample included thirty-six father deaths and eleven mother deaths. Findings suggest that the quality of the early parent-child bond was related to later grief reactions. Gender differences were found in degree of response to death of the father-women demonstrated greater affect than men-while both men and women demonstrated strong affect following the death of the mother. Parent death preceded a time of upheaval and transition for most of the sample, and this upheaval was related to themes of personal mortality and to changes in interpersonal relationships. The event of parent death was an important symbolic event for midlife adults and merits further study.