Associations between parental depression, communication, and self-worth of siblings bereaved by cancer.

Journal of Family Psychology, Vol 37(8), Dec 2023, 1190-1199; doi:10.1037/fam0001137A child’s death from cancer may increase the risk for poor self-worth in bereaved siblings. Furthermore, bereaved parents may experience depressive symptoms and communicate differently with their surviving children. However, limited research has examined family factors associated with self-worth in bereaved siblings. Thus, we examined: (a) differences in parental depressive symptoms, parent–child communication, and sibling self-worth between bereaved and nonbereaved families and (b) indirect effects of parental depressive symptoms and communication quality on the association between bereavement and sibling self-worth. Bereaved parents and siblings were recruited 3–12 months after a child’s death from cancer. Bereaved (n = 72) and nonbereaved families of classmates (n = 58) completed home-based questionnaires upon enrollment (T1), and 48 bereaved and 45 nonbereaved families completed 1-year follow-up (T2). Relative to controls at T1 and T2, bereaved mothers, but not fathers, reported more depressive symptoms. Bereaved siblings reported poorer maternal and similar paternal communication, and similar levels of self-worth compared to controls. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal serial mediation models for mothers were significant. Bereaved mothers were at greater risk for depressive symptoms, which adversely affected sibling self-worth over time through disrupted mother–child communic...
Source: Journal of Family Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research