Childhood Bereavement and Adult Personality
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Authors
Fox, Eloise B.
Issue Date
1986
Type
Thesis
Language
en
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
This study focuses on the relationship between the death of a parent in childhood/adolescence and subsequent adult personality. To explore whether specific personality traits are associated with childhood bereavement and how that association may be mediated by intervening variables, a Community Public Health Survey was used. Statistical analyses were performed on the data set, which measured Personality traits and controlled for situational variables in a general population sample of adult men from bereaved, divorced/separated, and intact family backgrounds. The findings suggest that parental death in childhood/adolescence is associated with a pattern of adult personality traits that is different from the non-bereaved. Men whose parent (s) died reported be.ir.q more compliant and interpersonally isolated, as well as less aggressive, gregarious, and self-confident. This study replicates similar findings in the literature for younger, non-representative samples and expands generalizability to the adult male general population. The data suggest an association and riot Causation. Further findings indicate the importance of family, situational, and child-specific variables that mediate the experience of parental death in each individual case. Future longitudinal research is recommended to explore these intervening variables more extensively.