The price of loss – a literature review of the psychosocial and health consequences of childhood bereavement

Agid, O., Shapira, B., Zislin, J., Ritsner, M., Hanin, B., Murad, H., & Lerer, B. (1999). Environment and vulnerability to major psychiatric illness: A case control study of early parental loss in major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Molecular Psychiatry, 4(2), 163–172.

Appel, C. W., Johansen, C., Christensen, J., Frederiksen, K., Hjalgrim, H., Dalton, S. O., … Bidstrup, P. E. (2016). Risk of use of antidepressants among children and young adults exposed to the death of a parent. Epidemiology, 27(4), 578–585.

Balk, D. E. (2010). Children’s encounters with death, bereavement, and coping. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Berg, L., Rostila, M., & Hjern, A. (2016). Parental death during childhood and depression in young adults – a national cohort study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(9), 1092–1098.

Berg, L., Rostila, M., Saarela, J., & Hjern, A. (2014). Parental death during childhood and subsequent school performance. Pediatrics, 133(4), 682–689.

Black, D., Harris-Hendriks, J., & Kaplan, T. (1992). Father kills mother: Post-traumatic stress disorder in the Children. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 57(4), 152–157.

Bonanno, G. A., Wortman, C. B., Lehman, D. R., Tweed, R. G., Haring, M., Sonnega, J., Carr, D., & Nesse, R. M. (2002). Resilience to loss and chronic grief: A prospective study from preloss to 18 months postloss. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1150–1164.

Brent, D., Melhem, N., Donohoe, M. B., & Walker, M. (2009). The incidence and course of depression in bereaved youth 21 months after the loss of a parent to suicide, accident, or sudden natural death. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166(7), 786–794.

Burrell, L. V., Mehlum, L., & Qin, P. (2017). Risk factors for suicide in offspring bereaved by sudden parental death from external causes. Journal of Affective Disorders, 222, 71–78.

Burrell, L. V., Mehlum, L., & Qin, P. (2018). Sudden parental death from external causes and risk of suicide in the bereaved offspring: A national study. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 96, 49–56.

Bylund-Grenklo, T., Fürst, C. J., Nyberg, T., Steineck, G., & Kreicbergs, U. (2016). Unresolved grief and its consequences. A nationwide follow-up of teenage loss of a parent to cancer 6–9 years earlier. Supportive Care in Cancer, 24(7), 3095–3103.

Bylund Grenklo, T., Kreicbergs, U., Valdimarsdóttir, U. A., Nyberg, T., Steineck, G., & Fürst, C. J. (2014). Self-injury in youths who lost a parent to cancer: Nationwide study of the impact of family-related and health-care-related factors. Psycho-Oncology, 23(9), 989–997.

Cerel, J., Fristad, M. A., Verducci, J., Weller, R. A., & Weller, E. B. (2006). Childhood bereavement: Psychopathology in the 2 years postparental death. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 45(6), 681–690.

Christ, G. H., & Christ, A. E. (2006). Current approaches to helping children cope with a parent’s terminal illness. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 56(4), 197–212.

Clark, C. D., Caldwell, T., Power, C., & Stansfeld, S. A. (2010). Does the influence of childhood adversity on psychopathology persist across the lifecourse? A 45-year prospective epidemiologic study. Annals of Epidemiology, 20(5), 385–394.

Cross, S., & Harrison, H. (Eds.). (2002). “I can’t stop feeling sad” Calls to ChildLine about bereavement. London: ChildLine.

Dowdney, L. (2000). Annotation: Childhood bereavement following parental death. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 41(07), 819–830.

Dyregrov, A. (2008). Grief in children: A handbook for adults (2nd edition). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Dyregrov, K., & Dyregrov, A. (2008). Effective grief and bereavement support: The role of family, friends, colleagues, schools and support professionals. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Dyregrov, K., & Dyregrov, A. (2005). Siblings after suicide - “The forgotten bereaved.” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 35(6), 714–724.

Dyregrov, K., & Dyregrov, A. (2011). Barn og unge som pårørende ved kreft. Hvordan kan barns situasjon og foreldres omsorgskapasitet styrkes i et rehabiliteringsperspektiv. Norway: Center for Crisis Psychology.

Feigelman, W., Rosen, Z., Joiner, T., Silva, C., & Mueller, A. S. (2017). Examining longer-term effects of parental death in adolescents and young adults: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health. Death Studies, 41(3), 133–143.

Gersten, J. C., Beals, J., & Kallgren, C. A. (1991). Epidemiology and preventive interventions: Parental death in childhood as a case example. American Journal of Community Psychology, 19(4), 481–500.

Grassi-Oliveira, R., Honeycutt, J. A., Holland, F. H., Ganguly, P., & Brenhouse, H. C. (2016). Cognitive impairment effects of early life stress in adolescents can be predicted with early biomarkers: Impacts of sex, experience, and cytokines. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 71, 19–30.

Gray, L. B., Weller, R. A., Fristad, M., & Weller, E. B. (2011). Depression in children and adolescents two months after the death of a parent. Journal of Affective Disorders, 135(1), 277–283.

Green, E. J., & Connolly, M. E. (2009). Jungian family sandplay with bereaved children: Implications for play therapists. International Journal of Play Therapy, 18(2), 84–98.

Greenhalgh, T., Thorne, S., & Malterud, K. (2018). Time to challenge the spurious hierarchy of systematic over narrative reviews? European Journal of Clinical Investigation, e12931.

Guldin, M.-B., Li, J., Pedersen, H. S., Obel, C., Agerbo, E., Gissler, M., … Vestergaard, M. (2015). Incidence of suicide among persons who had a parent who died during their childhood: A population-based cohort study. JAMA Psychiatry, 72(12), 1227–1234.

Hamdan, S., Mazariegos, D., Melhem, N. M., Porta, G., Payne, M. W., & Brent, D. A. (2012). Effect of parental bereavement on health risk behaviors in youth. A 3-year follow-up. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 166(3), 216–223.

Harrison, L., & Harrington, R. (2001). Adolescents’ bereavement experiences. Prevalence, association with depressive symptoms, and use of services. Journal of Adolescence, 24(2), 159–169.

Høeg, B. L., Appel, C. W., von Heymann-Horan, A. B., Frederiksen, K., Johansen, C., Bøge, P., … Bidstrup, P. E. (2017). Maladaptive coping in adults who have experienced early parental loss and grief counseling. Journal of Health Psychology, 22(14), 1851–1861.

Høeg, B. L., Johansen, C., Christensen, J., Frederiksen, K., Dalton, S. O., Dyregrov, A., … Bidstrup, P. E. (2018). Early parental loss and intimate relationships in adulthood: A nationwide study. Developmental Psychology, 54(5), 963–974.

Holland, J. (2001). Understanding Children’s Experiences of Parental Bereavement. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Holland, J. (2008). How schools can support children who experience loss and death. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 36(4), 411–424.

Infurna, F. J., & Luthar, S. S. (2016). Resilience to Major Life Stressors Is Not as Common as Thought. Perspectives on Psychological Science: A Journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 11(2), 175–194.

Infurna, F. J., & Luthar, S. S. (2017a). The multidimensional nature of resilience to spousal loss. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112(6), 926–947.

Infurna, F. J., & Luthar, S. S. (2017b). Parents’ adjustment following the death of their child: Resilience is multidimensional and differs across outcomes examined. Journal of Research in Personality, 68, 38–53.

Ishikawa, J., Nishimura, R., & Ishikawa, A. (2015). Early-life stress induces anxiety-like behaviors and activity imbalances in the medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala in adult rats. European Journal of Neuroscience, 41(4), 442–453.

Jakobsen, I. S., & Christiansen, E. (2011). Young people’s risk of suicide attempts in relation to parental death: a population-based register study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(2), 176–83

Krause, N. (1998). Early parental loss, recent life events, and changes in health among older adults. Journal of Aging and Health, 10(4), 395–421.

Kristensen, P., Dyregrov, K., & Dyregrov, A. (2017). What distinguishes prolonged grief disorder from depression? Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening, 2017;137, 538–539.

Kravdal, Ø., & Grundy, E. (2016). Health effects of parental deaths among adults in Norway: Purchases of prescription medicine before and after bereavement. SSM - Population Health, 2, 868–875.

Lee, K. Y., Li, C. Y., Chang, K. C., Lu, T. H., & Chen, Y. Y. (2017). Age at exposure to parental suicide and the subsequent risk of suicide in young people. Crisis, Advance Online Publication,1–10.

Li, J., Vestergaard, M., Cnattingius, S., Gissler, M., Bech, B. H., Obel, C., & Olsen, J. (2014). Mortality after parental death in childhood: A nationwide cohort study from three Nordic countries. PLoS Medicine, 11, e1001679.

Liang, H., Olsen, J., Yuan, W., Cnattingus, S., Vestergaard, M., Obel, C., … Li, J. (2016). Early life bereavement and schizophrenia: A nationwide cohort study in Denmark and Sweden. Medicine, 95(3), e2434.

Lin, K. K., Sandler, I. N., Ayers, T. S., Wolchik, S. A., & Luecken, L. J. (2004). Resilience in parentally bereaved children and adolescents seeking preventive services. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 33(4), 673–683.

Liu, X., Olsen, J., Agerbo, E., Yuan, W., Cnattingius, S., Gissler, M., & Li, J. (2013). Psychological stress and hospitalization for childhood asthma- A nationwide cohort study in two Nordic countries. PLoS ONE, 8(10), e78816.

Luecken, L. J. (2008). Long-term consequences of parental death in childhood: Psychological and physiological manifestations. In M. S.Stroebe, R. O.Hansson, W.Stroebe, & H.Schut (Eds.), Handbook of Bereavement Research and Practice: Advances in Theory and Intervention, (s. 397–416).

Luecken, L. J., & Roubinov, D. S. (2012). Pathways to lifespan health following childhood parental death. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6(3), 243–257.

Lytje, M. (2016a). Unheard Voices: Parentally Bereaved Danish Students’ Experiences and Perceptions of the Support Received Following the Return to School. (Doctorial Dissertation). University of Cambridge, Cambridge.

Lytje, M. (2016b). Voices We Forget—Danish Students Experience of Returning to School Following Parental Bereavement. OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying.

Lytje, M. (2018). Voices We Forget-Danish Students Experience of Returning to School Following Parental Bereavement. Omega - Journal of Death and Dying, 78(1), 24–42.

Mack, K. Y. (2001). Childhood family disruptions and adult well-being: the differential effects of divorce and parental death. Death Studies, 25(5), 419–443.

Malterud, K., Bjelland, A. K., & Elvbakken, K. T. (2016). Evidence-based medicine–an appropriate tool for evidence-based health policy? A case study from Norway. Health Research Policy and Systems, 14(1), 15.

Mackenbach, J. P., Stirbu, I., Roskam, A.-J. R., Schaap, M. M., Menvielle, G., Leinsalu, M., & Kunst, A. E. (2008). Socioeconomic inequalities in health in 22 European countries. New England Journal of Medicine, 358(23), 2468–2481.

McClatchy, I. S., Vonk, M. E., & Palardy, G. (2009). The Prevalence of Childhood Traumatic Grief—A Comparison of Violent/Sudden and Expected Loss. Omega-Journal of Death and Dying, 59(4), 305–323.

Mallon, B. (2010). Working with Bereaved Children and Young People. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

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Mays, N., Pope, C., & Popay, J. (2005). Systematically reviewing qualitative and quantitative evidence to inform management and policy-making in the health field. Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 10, 6–20.

McClatchey, I. S., Vonk, M. E., Lee, J., & Bride, B. (2014). Traumatic and complicated grief among children: One or two constructs? Death Studies, 38(2), 69–78.

Melhem, N. M., Walker, M., Moritz, G., & Brent, D. A. (2008). Antecedents and sequelae of sudden parental death in offspring and surviving caregivers. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 162(5), 403-410.

Moor, N., & Graaf, P. M. de. (2016). Temporary and long-term consequences of bereavement on happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(3), 913–936.

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Neeleman, J., Sytema, S., & Wadsworth, M. (2002). Propensity to psychiatric and somatic ill-health: evidence from a birth cohort. Psychological Medicine, 32(5), 793–803.

Niederkrotenthaler, T., Floderus, B., Alexanderson, K., Rasmussen, F., & Mittendorfer-Rutz, E. (2012). Exposure to parental mortality and markers of morbidity, and the risks of attempted and completed suicide in offspring: An analysis of sensitive life periods. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 66(3), 233–239.

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Otowa, T., York, T. P., Gardner, C. O., Kendler, K. S., & Hettema, J. M. (2014). The impact of childhood parental loss on risk for mood, anxiety and substance use disorders in a population-based sample of male twins. Psychiatry Research, 220(1–2), 404–409.

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