Peer Interactions of Parentally Bereaved Children and Adolescents: A Qualitative Study.

This study investigates peer interaction and peer support for parentally bereaved children and adolescents. Using data from an extensive study of bereaved families in southeastern Michigan, previously transcribed semistructured interviews on peer relationships from a sample of 35 parentally bereaved children aged 6 to 15 were qualitatively analyzed using the constant comparative method. This analysis explores peer interaction in the context of parental loss, revealing the nearly ubiquitous desire of bereaved children to be perceived as "normal" and maintain their social life as it was before the death, the avoidance of bereavement-related peer interaction, the nature of and possible reasons for the relative lack of peer support, deliberately hurtful peer behavior, the multiple functions of peer support, and the value of close friends in bereavement.