Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T01:19:07.390Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Loss in the lives of children and adolescents: Understanding a common aspect of adverse events

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2016

Judith A. Murray
Judith A. Murray*
Affiliation:
The University of Queensland
*
Loss and Grief Unit, The Centre for Primary Health Care, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, The University of QLD, 4th Floor, Diamantina House, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Ipswich Road, Woolloongabba, Queensland 4102, Australia.
Get access

Abstract

Adverse life events and situations such as educational failure, social rejection, traumatic loss, family breakdown, abuse, migration and dislocation, natural and manmade disaster, chronic illness and death are not uncommon in the lives of children and adolescents. Considerable empirical evidence exists concerning both short- and long-term deleterious effects of such events on the mental health of children and adolescents. There is broad acceptance of the need to find means of preventing, or at least reducing, psychopathology associated with such events or situations. However, those working with children and adolescents are often overwhelmed by the expectation to provide for the legitimate needs of an individual child or adolescent, while having the daily responsibility for large groups of children, many of whom are distressed by adversity. Consequently, a valuable contribution to any program aimed at improving the mental health of children and young people would be the identification of a common aspect of adverse situations, the understanding of which could guide carers and educators in the provision of care for children and adolescents facing diverse life challenges. This paper argues that loss, and the grief associated with loss, is this common element. It reviews and integrates the literature concerning loss to enhance the understanding of families and practitioners of this central aspect of adverse life events.

Type
Research papers
Information
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , November 2000 , pp. 95 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Affleck, G. & Tennen, H. (1996). Construing benefits from adversity: Adaptational significance and dispositional underpinnings. Journal of Personality, 64(4), 899–922.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ahearn, F.L., & Athey, J.L. (Eds.). (1991). Refugee children: Theory, research and services. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Attig, T. (1994). The importance of conceiving of grief as an active process. Death Studies, 15, 385–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Australian Early Intervention Network for Mental Health in Young People (AusEiNet). (1999) National stocktake of prevention and early intervention programs. Bedford Park, South Australia: C. Davis, G. Martin, R. Kosky & A. O'Hanlon.Google Scholar
Baker, J.E., Sedney, M.A., & Gross, E. (1992). Psychological tasks for bereaved children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 62, 105–116.Google Scholar
Balk, D.E. (1996) Models of understanding adolescent coping with bereavement. Death Studies, 20, 367–387.Google Scholar
Banez, G.A., & Compas, B.E. (1990). Children's and parent's daily stressful events and psychological symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 18, 591–605.Google ScholarPubMed
Beardslee, W.R., & Podorefsky, D. (1988). Resilient adolescents whose parents have serious affective and other psychiatric disorders: Importance of self-understanding and relationships. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145(1), 63–69.Google Scholar
Biddulph, S. (1997). Raising boys. Sydney, Australia: Finch.Google Scholar
Bluebond-Langner, M. (1996). In the shadow of illness: Parents and siblings of the chronically ill. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1961). Process of mourning. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 42, 317–340.Google ScholarPubMed
Brent, S. (1977–1978). Puns, metaphors, and misunderstandings of a two-year-old's conception of death. Omega, 8, 285–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bright, R. (1996) Grief and powerlessness: Helping people regain control of their lives. London: Jessica Kingsley.Google Scholar
Burnell, G.M., & Burnell, A.L. (1989). Clinical management of bereavement: A handbook for health care professionals. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Cappelli, M., McGrath, P.J., Heick, C.E., MacDonald, N.E., Feldman, W., & Rowe, P. (1989). Chronic illness and its impact: The adolescent's perspective. Journal of Adolescent Health Care, 10, 283–288.Google Scholar
Cohen, E., MacKenzie, R.G., & Yates, G.L. (1991). HEADSS, a psychosocial risk assessment instrument: Implications for designing effective intervention programs for runaway youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 12, 539–544.Google Scholar
Cohler, B.J. (1991). The life story and the study of resilience and response to adversity. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 1 (2&3), 169–200.Google Scholar
Delbridge, A.et al. (1981). The Macquarie dictionary. St.Leonard's, NSW: Macquarie University Press.Google Scholar
Deutsch, H. (1937). Absense of grief. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 6, 12–22.Google Scholar
Doka, K.J. (1996). The cruel paradox: Children who are living with life-threatening illness. In Corr, C.A. & Corr, D.M.(Eds.), Handbook of childhood death and bereavement (pp. 89–105). New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Downey, G. & Coyne, J.C. (1990). Children of depressed parents: An integrative review. Psyhcological Bulletin, 108, 50–75.Google Scholar
Dyregrov, A. (1988). Responding to traumatic stress situations in Europe: Crisis intervention following a multiple murder. Bereavement Care, 7, 6–9.Google Scholar
Dyregrov, A. (1991). Grief in children: A handbook for adults. London: Jessica Kingsley.Google Scholar
Eagle, R.S. (1994). The separation experience of children in long-term care: Theory, research and implications for practice. American Journal of Othropsychiatry, 64, 421–434.Google Scholar
Freud, A. (1960). Discussion of Dr. John Bowlby's paper. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 15, 53–63.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1917). Mourning and melancholia. Sigmund Freud: Collected papers. Vol. 4. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Fuller, A. (1998) From surviving to thriving: Promoting mental health in young people. Melbourne, Victoria: The Australian Council for Educational Research.Google Scholar
Furman, R. (1964). Death and the young child: Some preliminary considerations. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 19, 321–333.Google Scholar
Garbarino, J., Kostelny, K., & Dubrow, N. (1991). What children tell about living in danger. American Psychologist, 46, 376–383.Google Scholar
George, L.K. (1993) Sociological perspectives on life transitions. Annual Review of Sociology, 19, 353–373.Google Scholar
Glick, I., Weiss, R.S., & Parkes, C.M. (1974). The first year of bereavement. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Goldman, L. (1996) Breaking the silence: A guide to help children with complicated grief – suicide, homicide, AIDS, violence and abuse. Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
Goodman, S.H., & Brumley, H.E. (1990). Schizophrenic and depressed mothers: Relational deficits in parenting. Developmental Psychology, 26(1), 40–50.Google Scholar
Harvey, J.H. (1996). Embracing their memory: Loss and the social psychology of storytelling. Needham Heights, MA: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Hegar, R.L. (1989). Empowerment-based practice with children. Social Service Review, 63, 372–383.Google Scholar
Hockley, R. (1985) The precipitants of grief. The family and grief. Proceedings of the 4th National Conference of the National Association of Loss and Grief. Sydney.Google Scholar
Horowitz, M.J. (1991). A model of mourning: Changes in schema self and others. Journal of American Psychoanalytic Association, 38, 297–324.Google Scholar
Janoff-Bulman, R., & Frantz, C.M. (1997) The impact of trauma on meaning: From meaningless world to meaningful life. In Power, M., & Brewin, C.R.The transformation of meaning in psychological therapies, (pp. 91–106). London: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Kaczmarek, M.G. & Backlund, B.A. (1991). Disenfranchised grief: The loss of an adolescent romantic relationship. Adolescence, 26, 253–259.Google Scholar
Kissane, D.W. (1994). Family-based grief counselling. Australian Family Physician, 23, 678–680.Google Scholar
Kliman, G. (Ed.). (1968). Psychological emergencies in childhood. New York: Grune and Stratton.Google Scholar
Kosky, R., Silburn, S., & Zubrick, S.R. (1990). Are children and adolescents who have suicidal thoughts different from those who attempt suicide? The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 178, 38–43.Google Scholar
Kranzler, E.M., Shaffer, D., Wasserman, G., & Davies, M. (1990). Early childhood bereavement. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29, 513–520.Google Scholar
McKendrick, J.H., & Thorpe, M. (1998). The legacy of colonisation: Trauma, loss and psychological distress amongst aboriginal people. Grief Matters, 1, 4–8.Google Scholar
McKissock, D. (1998). The grief of our children. Sydney: ABC Books.Google Scholar
Mantzicopoulos, P. (1990). Coping with school failure: Characteristics of students employing successful and unsuccessful coping strategies. Psychology in the Schools, 27, 138–143.Google Scholar
Marttunen, M.J., Aro, H.M., & Lönnqvist, J.K. (1993). Precipitant stressors in adolescent suicide. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 1178–1183.Google Scholar
Morano, C.D., Cisler, R.A., & Lemerond, J. (1993). Risk factors for adolescent suicidal behavior: Loss, insufficient familial support, and hopelessness. Adolescence, 28, 851–865.Google Scholar
Mzarek, D. & Haggerty, R.J. (1994). Reducing risks for mental disorders. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Neimeyer, R.A. (1999). Narrative strategies in grief therapy. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 12, 65–85.Google Scholar
Parkes, C.M. (1971). Psychosocial transitions: A field for study. Social Science and Medicine, 5, 101–115.Google Scholar
Pynoos, R.S., Steinberg, A.M., & Gienjian, A. (1991). Traumatic stress in children and adolescence. In Van der Kolk, B.A.McFarlane, A. C., & Weisaeth, L. (Eds.), Traumatic stress: The effects of overwhelming experience on mind, body and society, (pp. 331–358). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Raphael, B. (1984). The anatomy of bereavement: A handbook for the caring professions. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Raphael, B. (1993). Prevention of disorders of childhood and adolescence. Scope for prevention in mental health, (pp. 143–165). Report prepared for National Health and Medical Research Council. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Remkus, J.M. (1991). Repeated foster placements and attachment failure. In Webb, N.B. (Ed), Play therapy with children in crisis: A casebook for practitioners. (pp.143–163). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Rotherum-Borus, M.J., Trautman, P.O., Dopkins, S.C., & Shrout, P.E. (1990). Cognitive style and pleasant activities among female adolescent suicide attempters. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, 554–561.Google Scholar
Ryan, K.D., Kilmer, R.P., Cauce, A.M., Watanabe, H. & Hoyt, D.R. (2000). Psychological consequences of child maltreatment in homeless adolescents: Untangling the unique effects of maltreatment and family environment. Child Abuse and Neglect, 24(3), 333–352.Google Scholar
Sam, D.L. (2000). Psychological adaptation of adolescents with immigrant backgrounds. The Journal of Social Psychology, 140(1), 5–25.Google Scholar
Schafer, J.A. & Moos, R.H. (1990). Life crises and personal growth. In Carpenter, B.N. (Ed.). Personal coping: Theory, research and applications. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.Google Scholar
Schwab, R. (1997) Parental mourning and children's behavior. Journal of Counseling and Development, 75, 258–265.Google Scholar
Shimabukuro, K.P., Daniels, J., & D'Andrea, M. (1999). Addressing spiritual issues from a cultural perspective: The case of the grieving Filipino boy. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 27, 221–239.Google Scholar
Silverman, P.R., Weiner, A., & El Ad, N. (1995). Parent-child communication in bereaved Israeli families. Omega, 31, 275–293.Google Scholar
Slee, P.T. (1993). Children, stressful life events and school adjustment: An Australian study. Educational Psychology, 13, 3–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, G.R., O'Rourke, D.F., Parker, P.E., Ford, C.V., Guggenheim, F.G., & Livingstone, R.C. (1988). Panic and nausea instead of grief in adolescents. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 5, 509–513.Google Scholar
Staudacher, C. (1991). Men and grief. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.Google Scholar
Stroebe, M., Van Den Bout, J., & Schut, H. (1994). Myths and misconceptions about bereavement: The opening of a debate. Omega, 29, 187–203.Google Scholar
Tedeshi, R., Park, C. & Calhoun, L. (Eds.). (1998). Postraumatic growth: Positive changes in the aftermath of crisis. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Thomas, A. & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development. New York: Brunner Mazel.Google Scholar
Thomas, R.M. (1996) Comparing theories of child development. 4thEd. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Tolan, P.H., Guerra, N.G. & Montaini-Klovdahl, L.R. (1997). Staying out of harm's way: Coping and the development of inner-city children. In Wolchik, S.A. & Sandler, I.N. (Eds.), Handbook of children's coping: Linking theory and intervention, (pp. 453–479). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Tyc, V.L. (1992). Psychosocial adaptation of children and adolescents with limb deficiencies: A review. Clinical Psychology Review, 12, 275–291.Google Scholar
Van Eerdewegh, M.M., Clayton, P.J., & Van Eerdewegh, P. (1985). The bereaved child: Variables influencing early psychopathology. British Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 188–194.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, M., MacLean, M., Kuh, K., & Rodgers, B. (1990). Children of divorced and separated parents: Summary and review of findings from a long-term follow-up study in the UK. Family Practice, 7, 104–109.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, J.S. (1991). The long-term effects of divorce on children: A review. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 30, 349–360.Google Scholar
Weissman, M.M., Gammon, G.D., John, K., Merikangas, K.R., Warner, V., Prusoff, B.A., & Sholomskas, D. (1987) Children of depressed parents. Archives of Geberal Psychiatry, 44, 847–853.Google Scholar
Wolfenstein, M. (1960). How is mourning possible? Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 21, 93–123.Google Scholar
Wolfinger, H.H. (1998). The effects of parental divorce on adult tobacco and alcohol consumption. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 39, 254–269.Google Scholar
Worden, J.W. & Silverman, P.R. (1996). Parental death and the adjustment of school-age children. Omega, 33, 91–102.Google Scholar
Worsham, N.L., Compas, B.E. & Ey, S. (1997). Children's coping with parental illness. In Wolchik, S.A. & Sandler, I.N. (Eds.), Handbook of children's coping: Linking theory and intervention, (pp. 195–213). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Worfhington, R.C. (1989). The chronically ill child and recurring family grief. The Journal of Family Practice, 29, 397–400.Google Scholar
Zakriski, A., Jacobs, M., & Coie, J. (1997). Coping with childhood peer rejection. In Wolchik, S.A. & Sandler, I.N. (Eds.). Handbook of children's coping: Linking theory and intervention, (pp. 423–451). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Zupanick, C.E. (1994). Adult children of dysfunctional families: Treatment from a disenfranchised grief perspective. Death Studies, 18, 183–195.Google Scholar