Leaving Home for Marital and Non-Marital Reasons in the Netherlands, 1850-1940 – The Impact of Parental Death and Parental Remarriage

Previous research shows that parentally bereaved children in north-western Europe in the past left home earlier than children who lived together with both biological parents. This article analyses the mechanisms behind this phenomenon with a special focus on the routes out of the parental household and the entry of step-parents and step-siblings. The Historical Sample of the Netherlands (HSN) is exploited which contains detailed infor-mation about household composition and life courses of more than 22,000 female and male adolescent and young adult children born between 1850 and 1922. Event-history analysis is applied and two exclusive routes out of the parental household, for marital and non-marital reasons, are studied in a competing risk design. The results show that parental loss does not increase the risk of early marriage before age 23, but strongly en-hances the chances for leaving home for non-marital reasons, which are mainly work-related. This is especially true in case of maternal loss. No support is found for the hy-pothesis that the entry of a step-parent and step-siblings increases the risk of leaving home compared to living with a single widowed parent. Tensions with step-parents therefore do not suffice to explain why parentally bereaved children left earlier for non-marital reasons. Instead, we argue that children’s exit was in the interest of both the single widowed parent and the bereaved child.

Peer Interactions of Parentally Bereaved Children and Adolescents

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.

Parentally Bereaved Children and Adolescents

This study investigates peer interaction and peer support for parentally bereaved children and adolescents. Using data from an extensive bereavement study, transcribed semistructured interviews on peer relationships from a sample of 35 parentally bereaved children aged 6 to 15 were systematically coded. Exploratory dimensions of inquiry included incidence counts of teasing, peer interaction regarding bereavement, and preference for interaction, among 12 other dimensions. Hypotheses related to age, gender, and parental death type (anticipated vs. sudden) differences on peer support reception were also tested. Major findings included the following: 71.4% of the sample received support from peers, although 71.4% preferred not to have bereavement-related peer interaction. A significantly greater percentage of females versus males experienced peer support and a positive emotional response, and a significantly greater percentage of children bereaved by anticipated deaths versus sudden deaths had received bereavement-related peer interaction and support. No significant differences were found between younger and older children.