Mental Distress and Family Functioning Among Married Parents Bereaved by a Child’s Sudden Death

This study examined mental distress & family functioning in a sample of 32 married couples who were part of a larger study of parents whose adolescent or young adult child had died by accident, suicide, or homicide. Parents were recruited into the study 4-7 months after the child’s death. Cohesion, flexibility, & mental distress were the varibales of interest; individual socres were compared at 3 time points. A surprising finding to the authors was the similiarity of many bereaved parents to normative families; the majority of bereaved families, by parents’ report, continue to function in ways that support flexibility & cohesion. (27 refs.)