Does Post-Traumatic Growth Follow Parental Death in Adulthood? An Empirical Investigation.

Komal Qasim,Jerome Carson

doi:10.1177/0030222820961956

Abstract

This study looked at the loss of a parent in adulthood and whether this was followed by post-traumatic growth? Participants, 100 bereaved adults, from Pakistan and England, lost parents in the last 10 years. They completed three questionnaires. The study hypotheses were, first, that participants whose bereavement occurred more than five years ago would show significantly higher levels of post-traumatic growth. Second, participants with higher levels of post-traumatic growth would experience significantly higher grief scores. Thirdly, participants with higher levels of post-traumatic growth would show significantly higher levels of coping skills. Two hypotheses were rejected, only one received partial support. Yet, levels of post-traumatic growth were high in this sample. Post-traumatic growth does not follow every bereavement. The authors provide autoethnographic material to challenge this. Circumstances surrounding bereavement during the Covid-19 pandemic, are more likely to lead to increases in complicated grief reactions, rather than post-traumatic growth.

Highlights

Death is inevitable and may have serious physical and psychological implications for the survivor (Crunk, 2017)
These were its relationship with time since parental death; its relationship to levels of grief; and its association with coping skills
It seemed to be the case that this group of bereaved adults had higher scores on the PTGI, than some comparison groups

Summary

Introduction

Death is inevitable and may have serious physical and psychological implications for the survivor (Crunk, 2017). In spite of the fact that every individual experiences and feels the pain of grief differently, there is still a mutual and common experience of loss (Trauthwein, 2015) In this respect, the unique way in which every individual responds to death has been of psychological interest for hundreds of years (Granek, 2010). Harris (1991), suggested that young adults are the major group of individuals who find it difficult to express their true feelings to family and friends This makes them a vulnerable and significant group to investigate, as not as much research has been conducted to find the impact of parental death on adults (Glass, 1990)

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