Things That Help and Hinder Adolescent Sibling Bereavement

Abstract

A taxonomy of the things that help and hinder adolescents' sibling bereavement was developed from the responses of 140 bereaved adolescents to the questions What helped you cope with your sibling's death? and What made it harder to cope with your sibling's death? The dichotomous taxonomic framework revealed five categories. The categories of self, family, friends, social system, and time contained descriptions of things that helped coping. The categories of self, family, and social system also included descriptions of things that hindered coping with sibling grief. Support considered helpful was perceived as "people being there for me." Support that was considered as not helpful (insensitive) was perceived as "people not being there for me." Two themes emerged from the data. The theme of resourcefulness pervaded each of the helped categories and served to increase the adolescents' sense of resiliency. The theme of helplessness pervaded the three hindered categories and created a sense of vulnerability.