COMPARING PARENT LOSS WITH SIBLING LOSS

Author: Worden J. William   Davies Betty   McCown Darlene  

Publisher: Routledge Ltd

ISSN: 1091-7683

Source: Death Studies, Vol.23, Iss.1, 1999-01, pp. : 1-15

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Abstract

The death of a loved one is a traumatic loss for children , but little attention has been paid to how children's responses vary according to who died - a parent or a sibling . This article reports the findings of a comparison between children's responses to parent and sibling loss . Two samples of bereaved children were combined for the project , which compared children's scores on the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist . Findings indicated that there were no significant differences between the two loss groups in the total number of problems , in any of the syndrome scales , or in the percentage of children at risk . However , when the two loss groups were considered by gender , differences appeared - boys were more impacted by the loss of a parent than by the loss of a sibling and girls were most affected by the loss of a sibling , particularly a sister . Possible explanations for these differences are discussed .