Grief is a family affair: examining longitudinal associations between prolonged grief in parents and their adult children using four-wave cross-lagged panel models.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Losing a parent or spouse in adulthood may result in prolonged grief disorder (PGD) symptoms. PGD levels in parents may affect PGD levels in their adult offspring and the other way around. However, research on transmission of PGD in parent-child dyads is lacking. Consequently, we aimed to examine temporal associations between PGD levels in parent and adult children.

Methods

In doing so, we analyzed longitudinal self-report data on PGD levels (using the PG-13) assessed at 2, 11, 18, and 26 months after loss in 257 adult parent-child dyads from Denmark. Cross-lagged panel modeling was used for data-analyses.

Results

Changes in PGD levels in parents significantly predicted PGD levels in adult children, but not vice versa. Small through moderate cross-lagged ef

SUBMITTER: Lenferink LIM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10719676 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature