Subject
Child; Female; Humans; Male; Grief; Adult; Interpersonal Relations; Follow-Up Studies; Socioeconomic Factors; Cultural Characteristics; Social Environment; Israel; Preschool; Adaptation; Psychological; infant; Parents/psychology; Somatoform Disorders/psychology; Bereavement Leave Policy Paper; Anxiety Disorders - psychology; Depressive Disorder/psychology; Ethnic Groups/psychology; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder/psychology
Description
Emotional health of bereaving parents (N = 62; control N = 56) were explored 5 years after the death of a child (age 0-12) in Israel. The Symptom Check List-90 was utilized as the primary measurement instrument. Comparisons to controls according to geographic area of birth indicated more interpersonal (over)sensitivity, obsessive-compulsiveness and anxiety among Asia/African born parents as compared to either European/American or Israeli-born. All geographical groupings of bereaving parents indicated significantly greater somatic concerns than their respective controls. The college-educated Israeli-born bereaving parents indicated significantly healthier SCL-90 scores than similarly educated European/American-born bereaving parents. This was in contrast to the trend in which European-American-born parents (regardless of educational level) exhibited scores indicating the least symptomatology.
1984