A child's grief after the death of a sibling – a review of selected theoretical and empirical aspects

The aim of the article is to review selected theoretical and empirical aspects concerning the death of a sibling as well as its psychological and social consequences for a living child. This topic has not been of interest to researchers so far. This fact may pose an obstacle in searching for effective forms of social and educational support for families who have been orphaned in this way, especially for children. The article illustrates the importance of selected factors that determine the grief experience of children in connection with the loss of a sibling, such as: gender and age, type and cause of sibling death, features of the family environment. Considering the practical implications, it may be emphasized that the ability of the living child to cope with the loss may depend on the willingness of parents to discuss the death of a sibling. Moreover, in order to plan the care and educational impact, gender, age, type and cause of sibling death should be taken into account.

RACE, DEATH OF A SIBLING, AND DEMENTIA RISK AT LATE ADULTHOOD

The death of a family member is a stressful life event that compromises health and well-being. Considerable research has documented the detrimental health effects of parental, child, and spousal death. However, much less is known with regard to the health consequences of sibling death especially in late adulthood. Relationship with sibling is one of longest and intimate social relationships and the death of a sibling can be a devastating life event especially for older adults as they are more vulnerable to adverse effect of stress. As sibling death is more prevalent in late adulthood, it is important to examine whether sibling death increases risks of dementia which has become a public health concern due to its deleterious effects on individuals, families, and societies. Therefore, this study investigates the association between sibling death and dementia incidence in later life by using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study. Results from discrete-time hazard models show that respondents who experienced the death of a sibling between 1992 and 2000 are more likely to develop dementia during follow-up. This positive association between the death of a sibling and dementia incidence remains unchanged after accounting for respondents’ health status before sibling death and shared family social status during childhood. Further analyses indicate that psychological distress, health behaviors, and health status cannot explain the relationship between sibling death and dementia incidence. In addition, the association of sibling death with dementia incidence is similar for non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks.

Dynamic and heterogeneous effects of sibling death on children’s outcomes

This paper explores the effects of experiencing the death of a sibling on children’s developmental outcomes. Recent work has shown that experiencing a sibling death is common and long-term effects are large. We extend understanding of these effects by estimating dynamic effects on surviving siblings' cognitive and socioemotional outcomes, as well as emotional and cognitive support by parents. Using the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (CNLSY79), we find large initial effects on cognitive and noncognitive outcomes that decline over time. We also provide evidence that the effects are larger if the surviving child is older and less prominent if the deceased child was either disabled or an infant, suggesting sensitive periods of exposure. Auxiliary results show that parental investments in the emotional support of surviving children decline following the death of their child.