Suicide-Bereaved Children and Adolescents: II. Parental and Family Functioning

This study extends the authors’ earlier examination of suicide-bereaved children from the Grief Research Study, a longitudinal study of childhood bereavement after parental death. 26 suicide-bereaved children, aged 5 to 17 years, & their surviving parents were compared with 332 children bereaved from parental death not caused by suicide & their surviving parents 1, 6, 13, & 25 months following the death. Suicide-bereaved children generally came from families with a history of psychopathology & substantial family disruption. Further findings are discussed.