TY - JOUR
T1 - Early parental loss and intimate relationships in adulthood
T2 - A nationwide study
AU - Høeg, Beverley Lim
AU - Johansen, Christoffer
AU - Christensen, Jane
AU - Frederiksen, Kirsten
AU - Dalton, Susanne Oksbjerg
AU - Dyregrov, Atle
AU - Bøge, Per
AU - Dencker, Annemarie
AU - Bidstrup, Pernille Envold
N1 - (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
PY - 2018/5
Y1 - 2018/5
N2 - Being able to form and maintain intimate relationships is an essential part of development and the early loss of a parent may negatively affect this ability. This study investigates the association between parental loss before the age of 18 years and the formation and dissolution of marriage and cohabitation relationships in adulthood, in relation to factors that may help identify potentially vulnerable subgroups of bereaved children, that is, sex of the deceased parent, cause of death and child's age at the time of death. Using data from national registries, we followed all children born in Denmark between 1970 and 1995 (n = 1,525,173) and used Poisson regression models to assess rate ratios by gender for relationship formation and separation according to early parental loss. We stratified the analyses by sex of the deceased parent, cause of death and child's age at the time of death, and adjusted for the confounding effects of parental income, education level, and psychiatric illness. We found that parental loss was associated with a higher rate of relationship formation for young women, but not young men, and higher rates of separation for both men and women. The associations with separation were stronger for persons who lost a parent to suicide than to other causes. The effects were relatively small, a possible testimony to the resilience of developmental processes in most children. However, as long-term relationships are associated with physical and psychological health, interventions for bereaved children and families are important, especially in the subgroup bereaved by suicide.
AB - Being able to form and maintain intimate relationships is an essential part of development and the early loss of a parent may negatively affect this ability. This study investigates the association between parental loss before the age of 18 years and the formation and dissolution of marriage and cohabitation relationships in adulthood, in relation to factors that may help identify potentially vulnerable subgroups of bereaved children, that is, sex of the deceased parent, cause of death and child's age at the time of death. Using data from national registries, we followed all children born in Denmark between 1970 and 1995 (n = 1,525,173) and used Poisson regression models to assess rate ratios by gender for relationship formation and separation according to early parental loss. We stratified the analyses by sex of the deceased parent, cause of death and child's age at the time of death, and adjusted for the confounding effects of parental income, education level, and psychiatric illness. We found that parental loss was associated with a higher rate of relationship formation for young women, but not young men, and higher rates of separation for both men and women. The associations with separation were stronger for persons who lost a parent to suicide than to other causes. The effects were relatively small, a possible testimony to the resilience of developmental processes in most children. However, as long-term relationships are associated with physical and psychological health, interventions for bereaved children and families are important, especially in the subgroup bereaved by suicide.
KW - Adolescent
KW - Adult
KW - Age Factors
KW - Bereavement
KW - Child
KW - Cohort Studies
KW - Denmark
KW - Female
KW - Humans
KW - Interpersonal Relations
KW - Male
KW - Parent-Child Relations
KW - Parental Death/statistics & numerical data
KW - Registries
KW - Risk Factors
KW - Sex Factors
KW - Sexual Partners/psychology
KW - Suicide
U2 - 10.1037/dev0000483
DO - 10.1037/dev0000483
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 29369655
SN - 0012-1649
VL - 54
SP - 963
EP - 974
JO - Developmental Psychology
JF - Developmental Psychology
IS - 5
ER -
