Transcending a Devastating Loss: The Life Attitude of Mothers Who Have Experienced the Death of Their Only Child

SUMMARY

This study measured 80 mothers’ attitudes about life five or more years after the death of their only child (mean = nine years). Participants completed the Life Attitude Profile-Revised. The five highest and five lowest scoring mothers were interviewed in depth. Discriminant analysis of participant questionnaires revealed that 86% of participants were correctly classified by seven variables as survivors (reinvestors in life) or as remaining in a state of perpetual bereavement. Four of these variables accounted for 39% of the variance in participants’ life attitude scores. Interview and questionnaire findings suggest motherhood becomes an integral part of the self and in order to survive after the death of an only child it is necessary not to relinquish this construct. A positive life attitude was found to be an important indicator of adaptation to this unique form of bereavement. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: [email protected]]

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kay Talbot

Kay Talbot, PhD, is a grief counselor and consultant in private practice in Vallejo, CA. Her daughter and only child, Leah Talbot, died in 1982 at the age of nine.