# MIDDLE AGED CHILD'S EXPERIENCE OF PARENTAL DEATH

> **NIH NIH R01** · MADLYN/LEONARD ABRAMSON CTR/JEWISH LIFE · 1991 · $104,434

## Abstract

The general aim of the proposed research is to examine the impact of
elderly parent's deaths on the lives of their middle-aged children. The
experience of parental death in middle age is increasingly normative but
has received minimal attention. In particular, we will examine the
effects on middle aged married women of the loss of an elderly mother who
is their last surviving parent. The central focus will be on the personal
meaning of the death and the interpretation of this even over the 15
months following it. Interviews will be held at 3 and 15 months post-
death.

The proposed study has 3 specific aims; 1. To examine change and
continuity in the personal meaning of the death, employing a mix of
(mostly) qualitative and quantitative methods. 2. To examine differential
effects on middle aged children distinctive circumstances prior to the
death. Four groups of informants (25 each, N=100) will consist of local
middle aged daughters who 1: were involved in heavy caregiving for their
mother, (2) were involved in light or no caregiving; (3) had a mother in
a nursing home most of the last year of her life; or (4) lived out of
town and were therefore not instrumental caregivers. For each, the
quality of the parent-child tie will be of central interest. 3. To
examine the death both as a loss and as a life course transition. We will
examine the extension of 7 adult child-parent themes (generational
continuity, interaction, reciprocal socialization, interdependence, duty,
affect, and personal adjustment to the death) beyond the death. The
notion of anticipatory orphanhood is also of significance. The proposed
research may also be considered a "post-caregiving" study for a subsample
of informants.

Little is known about the mental health effects of this loss. The
proposed study will provide a first and in-dept look at these.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3120127
- **Project number:** 5R01AG008481-03
- **Recipient organization:** MADLYN/LEONARD ABRAMSON CTR/JEWISH LIFE
- **Principal Investigator:** Robert L. Rubinstein
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1991
- **Award amount:** $104,434
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1989-09-01 → 1992-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3120127

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3120127, MIDDLE AGED CHILD'S EXPERIENCE OF PARENTAL DEATH (5R01AG008481-03). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3120127. Licensed CC0.

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