| The purpose of the initial Harvard Child Bereavement study was 4-fold: to bridge the lack of research addressing the child's experience from his or her own perspective, to remedy the lack of control groups in prior studies, as well as the lack of standardized assessments, and the lack of longitudinal studies surrounding this topic (Worden, 1996). The present study used archival data from the above study and sought to gain a greater understanding of what it means for children to grieve the loss of one of their parents and how children then make sense of the death. Moreover, specific attention was given to the grieving processes found in siblings. This is particularly informative as analyzing siblings allows for several peripheral factors to remain consistent. The aims of the present study were to further elucidate the process of how siblings grieve the loss of a parent. The results of the analysis addressed the research question: in what way do the grieving processes between siblings interact and to what extent does this appear helpful or harmful? Themes centered on coping through using the sibling relationship, taking on the role of a parent, and coping through religious beliefs. |
