Parental loss in childhood and social support in adulthood among psychiatric patients. Group for Longitudinal Affective Disorders Study (GLADS).

Psychoanalytic theories hypothesize that early attachment experiences with parents shape the structure and function of adult interpersonal relationships. The present paper aims to examine if parental loss experiences in childhood is related to perceived social support in adulthood. We directly interviewed 1247 patients representative of 31 psychiatric clinics and hospitals all over Japan as to their parental loss experiences in childhood and also administered them Sarason et al.'s Social Support Questionnaire. It was found, to our surprise, that those who had lost the father or mother through death reported as many current support persons as those who had not and that those who had experienced separation from the mother (but not the father) reported greater satisfaction with social support than those who had not. Several hypotheses are advanced to explain these unexpected findings and it is concluded that we must at least entertain some doubt on the direct continuity hypothesis between disruptions of parent-child relationships and the individual's later capacity to enjoy social support.