One of the most powerful and life-changing events that can occur in the life of a family is
the death of a child. Researchers who have studied death and bereavement suggest that a
child's death has a dramatic impact on parents. However, little is known about the ways
in which child loss influences a parent's sense of identity and subsequent parental
behavior. The purpose of this study was to explore how the life event of having a child
die affects parents in their sense of identity and behavior as a mother or father. It was
also to search for common patterns and themes in parental accounts of a child's death that
provide a better understanding of this topic. Individual mothers and fathers were
interviewed and asked about their experience in losing a child, and how this experience
shaped their feelings of identity and parental behavior in relation to both the deceased
child and their other children. Nineteen mothers and fathers who had children die as a
result of accidental causes or illness were interviewed. Interview transcripts were
qualitatively analyzed for content. Findings were broken into four primary categories: (a)
parental experience in the context of loss; (b) impact of a child's death on parental
identity; (c) parental behavior in relation to the deceased child; and (d) parental behavior
in relation to surviving children. The findings provided support to the idea that a child's
death has a significant impact on parental identity and a parent's subsequent behavior.
The findings demonstrated that how a child dies is a critical factor in how parents
experience the loss. The findings related to parental identity show that parents struggle
with their sense of competence, mourn the lost parent-child bond, and feel a loss of
parental hopes for the future. The findings about parental behavior in relation to the
deceased child suggest that connecting with and remembering the child in diverse ways
are fundamental aspects of parental behavior after a child's death. The findings also
show that a child's death shapes surviving parent-child relationships as parents mediate
the loss experience for children, become more protective, and increase their parental
efforts in behalf of children. / Graduation date: 2000
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/28667 |
| Date | 30 November 1999 |
| Creators | Brotherson, Sean E. |
| Contributors | Hooker, Karen A., Zvonkovic, Anisa |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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