Early parental loss and intimate relationships in adulthood: A nationwide study

Beverley Lim Høeg; Christoffer Johansen; Jane Christensen; Kirsten Frederiksen; Susanne Oksbjerg Dalton; Atle Dyregrov; Per Bøge; Annemarie Dencker; Pernille Envold Bidstrup

doi:10.1037/dev0000483

Early parental loss and intimate relationships in adulthood: A nationwide study

Beverley Lim Høeg, Christoffer Johansen, Jane Christensen, Kirsten Frederiksen, Susanne Oksbjerg Dalton, Atle Dyregrov, Per Bøge, Annemarie Dencker, Pernille Envold Bidstrup

Department of Clinical Medicine

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Journal	Developmental Psychology
Volume	54
Issue number	5
Pages (from-to)	963-974
Number of pages	12
ISSN	0012-1649
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000483
Publication status	Published - May 2018

Keywords

Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Bereavement
Child
Cohort Studies
Denmark
Female
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Parent-Child Relations
Parental Death/statistics & numerical data
Registries
Risk Factors
Sex Factors
Sexual Partners/psychology
Suicide

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1037/dev0000483

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abstract = "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.",

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author = "H{\o}eg, {Beverley Lim} and Christoffer Johansen and Jane Christensen and Kirsten Frederiksen and Dalton, {Susanne Oksbjerg} and Atle Dyregrov and Per B{\o}ge and Annemarie Dencker and Bidstrup, {Pernille Envold}",

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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

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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.

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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

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SP - 963

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JO - Developmental Psychology

JF - Developmental Psychology

IS - 5

ER -

Early parental loss and intimate relationships in adulthood: A nationwide study

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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