A comparison of parental coping styles ollowing the death of adolescent nd preadolescent children

Abstract

Abstract The impact of children's death from cancer on parental coping styles and psychological well-being was studied retrospectively. Furthermore, parents who had lost younger children (3–9 years old) and parents who had lost older children (13–19 years old) were compared. The parents had been bereaved from three months to three years. In general, bereaved parents showed less expression of emotions than the Dutch norm group. Parents of older children were found to engage in less active problem focusing. Of the 33 parents studied, 14 appeared to have mental health problems as measured by the General Health Questionnaire. When mental health problems occurred, they tended to be reported by both members of a couple. Surprisingly, there appeared to be no differences in mean mental health scores between the Dutch norm group and the group of bereaved parents, nor were there differences between the parents of younger and older children.