Maladaptive coping in adults who have experienced early parental loss and grief counseling

• Published in: Journal of health psychology Vol. 22; no. 14; pp. 1851 - 1861
• Main Authors: Høeg, Beverley Lim, Appel, Charlotte W, von Heymann-Horan, Annika B, Frederiksen, Kirsten, Johansen, Christoffer, Bøge, Per, Dencker, Annemarie, Dyregrov, Atle, Mathiesen, Birgit B, Bidstrup, Pernille E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.12.2017; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adolescent; Adult; Adults; Behavior problems; Bereavement; Blame; Child; Child, Preschool; Coping; Counseling; Counseling - statistics & numerical data; Death; Disengagement; Drug use; Eating; Eating behavior; Female; Grief; Guilt; Humans; Male; Parents; Parents & parenting; Psychological Trauma - epidemiology; Psychological Trauma - psychology; Selfblame; Substance abuse; Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology; Substance-Related Disorders - psychology; Young Adult; counseling; children; coping; grief; parental loss
• ISSN: 1359-1053; 1461-7277
• DOI: 10.1177/1359105316638550

This study compares maladaptive coping, measured as substance use, behavioral disengagement, self-blame, and emotional eating, among adults (>18 years) who have experienced early parental loss (N = 1465 women, N = 331 men) with non-bereaved controls (N = 515 women, N = 115 men). We also compared bereaved adults who received grief counseling (N = 822 women, N = 190 men) with bereaved controls who had not (N = 233 women, N = 66 men). Bereaved adults reported significantly more substance use, behavioral disengagement, and emotional eating than non-bereaved adults. Counseling participants reported significantly more substance use and self-blame than non-participants. Our results suggest that early loss may negatively impact the development of adulthood coping.