Old Losses: A Retrospective Study of Miscarriage and Infant Death 1926–1955

ABSTRACT

Childbearing-related losses of 16 elderly Caucasians (13 women and 3 men, aged 69–90) were examined retrospectively in this qualitative study. Recollections of social support, grief at the time of loss, and current meaning attributed to the loss were the foci of the study. Most respondents recalled having felt grief at the time of miscarriage, fetal death, or infant death, and most did not have lingering feelings of grief. Women who did not have grandchildren and who recalled insufficient social support appeared to be more vulnerable to feelings of lasting grief. A life course approach, which examines personal narrative in relation to ontological, generational, and historical time, fits with the interpretation given by elderly respondents to their childbearing losses.

KEYWORDS:

• Infant death
• miscarriage
• life course
• elderly
• parental grief