Implications of Parental Suicide and Violent Death for Promotion of Resilience of Parentally-Bereaved Children

Abstract

This article considers the implications of suicide and violent deaths (including suicide, homicide, and accidents) for the development of interventions for parentally bereaved children. Analyses of data from the Family Bereavement Program find minimal differences in children's mental health problems, grief or risk and protective factors based on cause of parental death. In addition, cause of death did not substantially affect the relations between risk and protective factors and bereaved children's outcomes. It is concluded that cause of death from violence or suicide is not a very useful indicator of bereaved children's need for or likelihood of benefiting from an intervention.

The writing of this article was funded in part by NIMH R01 MH49155 to evaluate an intervention program for bereaved families, NIMH 1P30 MH068685 for the establishment of a prevention research center, and NIMH 2 T32 MH18387–19 to provide a pre-doctoral training grant in prevention research to Ana C. Brown, which are gratefully acknowledged. We thank Sharlene Wolchik for her contributions to this article. We are also grateful to the families who participated in the Family Bereavement Program study.

Notes

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^a Parental warmth and consistent discipline.

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^a Parental warmth and consistent discipline.