The impact of the death of a peer on adolescents

Abstract

Increasing rates of adolescent homicide, suicide, and AIDS have forced researchers to relinquish comforting beliefs about youth and vitality, and to accept the reality of adolescent death. Previous studies of bereavement have given precedence to parental and fraternal relations, and peers of deceased adolescents have gone largely unnoticed. What literature exists in the area of peer bereavement suggests that the process of mourning a peer closely parallels the process of mourning a sibling. The present study set forth to study empirically the cognitive, behavioral, and affective responses of adolescents to the death of a peer, and to determine possible mediators of bereavement reactions. Fifty undergraduates who had recently lost a peer (bereaved) and 52 controls (nonbereaved) were compared on a series of objective measures. Beliefs about the meaningfulness of the world, self-worth, and morality emerged as important variables in distinguishing between bereaved and nonbereaved samples. Further, satisfaction with an available social support network, and locus of control appeared as significant variables, accounting for differences in grief responses of the bereaved. Results are discussed within a developmental framework.