Changes in parents' mental distress after the violent death of an adolescent or young adult child: a longitudinal prospective analysis.

This study examined changes in bereaved parents' mental distress following the violent deaths of their 12- to 28-year-old children. A community-based sample of 171 bereaved mothers and 90 fathers was recruited by a review of medical examiner records. Data were collected 4, 12, and 24 months post-death. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed significant reductions in 8 of 10 measures of mental distress among mothers and 4 of 10 for fathers, with the most change for both genders occurring between 4 and 12 months post-death. During the 2nd year of bereavement, mothers' symptoms continued to decline, whereas fathers, who started out with less distress than mothers, reported slight increases in 5 of 10 symptom domains. Nonetheless, 2 years after the deaths, mothers' mental distress scores were up to 5 times higher than those of "typical" U.S. women and fathers' scores were up to 4 times higher than "typical" U.S. men. Of the 7 intervening variables examined, higher scores on self-esteem and self-efficacy predicted lower distress for both mothers and fathers 4, 12, and 24 months post-death. Repressive coping was predictive of distress among fathers. It was concluded that violent death bereavement has sustained, distressing consequences on parents of children who die as a result of accidents, homicides, and suicide.