Factors associated with filial grief following the death of an elderly parent.

Initial and residual grief reactions were assessed in a group of 220 adults, aged 35-60, who had experienced the death of a parent one to five years previously. Reactions to the loss were found to have sustained effects on social and emotional functioning, with lack of filial autonomy in the adult parent-child relationship and unexpectedness of the parent's death emerging as the strongest predictors of unresolved grief. Theoretical implications are considered and directions for further research are proposed.