ERIC Number: EJ748473
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Apr
Pages: 18
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0091-0627
EISSN: N/A
Stressors, Quality of the Child-Caregiver Relationship, and Children's Mental Health Problems After Parental Death: The Mediating Role of Self-System Beliefs
Wolchik, Sharlene A.; Tein, Jenn-Yun; Sandler, Irwin N.; Ayers, Tim S.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, v34 n2 p212-229 Apr 2006
Investigated whether three self-system beliefs, fear of abandonment, coping efficacy, and self-esteem, mediated the relations of stressors and caregiver-child relationship quality with concurrent and prospective internalizing and externalizing problems in a sample of children who had experienced parental death in the previous 2.5 years. The cross-sectional sample consisted of 340 children ages 7-16 and their surviving parent/current caregiver; the longitudinal analyses employed a subset of this sample that consisted of 100 children and their parents/caregivers who were assessed at three time points. A multirater, multimethod measure of caregiver-child relationship quality and a multirater measure of children's mental health problems were used. The cross-sectional model supported a mediational relation for fear of abandonment, coping efficacy, and self-esteem. The three-wave longitudinal model showed that fear of abandonment at Time 2 mediated the relation between stressors at Time 1 and internalizing and externalizing problems at Time 3. Implications of these findings for understanding the development of mental health problems in parentally bereaved children and designing interventions for this at-risk group are discussed.
Descriptors: Caregiver Child Relationship, Children, Mental Health, Beliefs, Fear, Coping, Self Esteem, Case Studies, Grief, Emotional Problems, Stress Variables, Psychological Patterns, Death, Emotional Response, Longitudinal Studies, At Risk Persons
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A