What is it like to lose a parent as a young person? Adults look back on bereavement

What is it about?

Around 41,000 children and young people in the UK experience the death of a parent each year, with potential for lasting psychological consequences including anxiety, depression, substance use, self-harm and reduced quality of life. This retrospective qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with 14 adults aged 21 to 41 who had experienced parental bereavement as young people, with the death occurring on average 12.9 years before the interview and at an average age of 16.4 years. Participants reflected on how they experienced and coped with the loss at the time, what support they received or lacked, how the bereavement affected their emotional and social development, and how they made sense of the experience in adulthood. Data were analysed inductively using thematic analysis. The findings illuminate the lived experience of parental loss from the perspective of adults who have had the distance of time to reflect, capturing both the immediate impact and longer-term meanings participants had made of their bereavement.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Childhood parental bereavement is a significant and underresearched public health issue. Most existing research focuses on short-term clinical outcomes or intervention effectiveness, with little attention to the subjective, longer-term experience of bereaved young people as they reflect on it from adulthood. The retrospective design provides a distinctive perspective not available through studies conducted at the time of bereavement, capturing how people integrate loss into their life narrative and identity over time. The findings have direct implications for how schools, healthcare services and bereavement charities design support for children and young people who have lost a parent, including the kinds of conversations, acknowledgements and interventions that participants identified as helpful or that they wished had been available to them.