L. Luecken
Jul 1, 2000
Citations
3
Influential Citations
77
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Journal of psychosomatic research
Abstract
OBJECTIVES This study examined developmental antecedents to psychosocial traits in adulthood that have been linked in prior studies to increased risk of heart disease. The hypothesis was tested that early parental loss coupled with poor-quality family relationships (FR) during childhood would be associated with increased hostility and depression, and lower social support in adulthood. METHODS Participants included 30 university students who experienced the death of one parent before the age of 16, and 31 control participants. Questionnaires were completed measuring current social support, hostility, depression, and the quality of FR. RESULTS Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) supported the hypothesis of maladaptive psychosocial characteristics in loss participants reporting poorer-quality FR. Significant interactions of loss and FR were found for individual variables of depressive symptoms, social support, and hostility. CONCLUSION These results provide evidence that parental loss in childhood is associated with health-damaging psychosocial characteristics in adulthood only if the quality of the surviving FR is poor.