Effects of Suicide on Siblings: Uncertainty and the Grief Process

Abstract

Over 33,000 people die from suicide each year in the United States, leaving nearly 200,000 family members grieving. Much has been written about suicide loss and grieving, yet not about the sibling survivors of suicide, called the “forgotten mourners.” This qualitative study of in-depth interviews with 45 sibling survivors of suicide extends the literature on uncertainty management and grief by investigating multiple ways in which sibling survivors of suicide experience uncertainty and loss, and the management responses that result.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was funded by a Luther College Undergraduate Research Grant and an ICF/McElroy Faculty/Student Research Grant. The authors would like to thank the sibling survivors of suicide who participated in this project for their assistance with this research.