Effects of Parental Bereave on Young Adults - Assignment Example

Effects of Parental Bereave on Young Adults Trauma Experience Losing a parent is one of theworst experiences that a child may experience irrespective of age. The bereaved child is more likely to have a stressful development as one grows up. In most cases, the loss of a parent due to an unexplainable accident is fatal since the child will have poor growth and development. For a young bereaved adult the loss of one parent may be catastrophic since it affects not only his basic educational needs but also his life experiences and career. As a result, the young adult will have declined competency and morale in the work environment. The bereaved adult will also have poor communication and social skills, especially when dealing with his peers. Moreover, the young adult may lack motivation for academic and occupational success. The loss of parental advice is not replaceable and there is a need for continuous guidance and counseling as well as encouragement from friends and the society in general. The loss of a parent, especially when this parent was a responsible breadwinner of the family may cascade into an increased burden especially on the elderly children. Such elderly bereaved young adults have a higher risk of diverse psychological problems such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. As a result, the elderly bereaved young adults may fail to handle such situations resulting in drug abuse and unhealthy behaviors. According to numerous researches on developmental psychology, the effects of family adversities and risks on the elderly bereaved young adults has grown beyond psychological problems perspective to include other consequences from broader indicators of adaptive strategies. They include the consequences of adversity for the achievement of developmental tasks in the education and career sectors, as well as policies in the improvement of interpersonal relationship. In my case, the loss of my father in an accident three months ago has affected my entire family. My mother and my sister cannot talk to anyone. This is because no one ever thought that our bread provider could suddenly leave us. Additionally, the bereavement has left me with a huge responsibility of taking care of my family. As a result of the complication, I ended up feeling very stressed all the time. I also felt that the society has not only neglected me, but also that careless driver should be awarded death penalty. As a result of the trauma, I decided to interview both my sister ad my mother in order to understand more on how to handle the bereavement and unite my family. Prior to conducting an interview with my sister and my mom, my mind had downplayed the crucial role of welfare services and the need for support from extended family. In my case my extended family was far away. Additionally, our family never considered engaging in social gathering and institutional association. During the interview, it became clear that parent bereavement in early adulthood affects the continuity and disruption of an individual’s communication as well as his socialization lifestyle. In her mind, my sister felt that there was no need for her to make new friends since she still had her friends and schoolmates. She also opted to remain in familiar surroundings without a sense of adventure. She developed a sense of continuity in terms of routine. The continuity provided the mental stability to deal with the new challenges associated with parent bereavement. She felt that by maintaining familiar surroundings, she could only escape the chaotic life and avoid social disruption.Additionally,the new environment of not living without our dad compounded her feeling of loneliness, since she had difficulties in finding a person to confide in or share experiences and advices. Her loneliness has affected her life experiences. In this regard, she developed a general feeling of loneliness, insecurity, and fear upon bereaved by our father. Ultimately, her withdrawal and distance towards us and other members of our community also created an overall feeling of rejection and isolation by the society. The distance adversely affected her social skills and limited her ability to communicate to anyone. The bereavement has also affected her school performance,where she has contiously failed her test and has lowered her self esteem. In my mother’s case, the bereavement has adversely affected her social and emotional state. After the death of our father, my mother started blaming herself for the death. She stopped talking to us and she spent most of her days at her bedroom crying and sitting in the darkness. She started collapsing from time to time and her health degraded. Prior to the interview, I had the perception that our mother’s reaction occurred due to increased social economic responsibilities of parenting being layed her. However, during the interview I realized that bereavement had interrupted the continuity of our life due to the reduction in parental capacity. The continuous loneliness and lack of social support affected her relationship with other members of the society. After the interview, it became evident to me that my mother was merely reacting to grief and loneliness. Though reduction in parental capacity affected both my mother and my sister, engaging in social activities such as church choir where mentoring and moral support was provided will enable them overcome the challenge of bereavement. Additionally, the extent of support from social and institutional affiliation upon parent bereavement has a significant impact on the bereaved young adults. Membership in the church youth club provided moral guidance and a sense of social security for the adults. In most cases, the close relationships between members have improved social associations of bereaved young adults as well as provide surrogate parents and mentorship opportunities. Interestingly, there exists limited literature associating parent bereavement with positive developmental outcomes. Additionally, individuals who lost their parents at an early childhood age are badly affected by bereavement and are more likely to have trouble in achieving academic goals, poor parenting skills and poor marital relationships. Current research on parental bereavement has associated poor health conditions such as depression symptoms, low self-confidence, low academic qualifications and poor family support with bereaved young adults (Shapiro, 1994). Additionally, the bereaved young adults appear to be less optimistic of their future due to poor academic achievements and aspirations. Numerous social researches on parent bereavement have indicated that older siblings are worse affected compared to younger ones at the time of the death of the parent. The older siblings are more likely to take up the parents’ responsibilities in managing the younger children. As a result, the elderly bereavedsiblings are less likely to venture in attainment of high academic qualifications since they take up odd jobs to cater their younger siblings (Shapiro, 1994). The effects of parent bereavement have affected diverse domains of competence, adjustment to bereavement and other indicators of psychophathography. The effects have progressed and spread across different domains with respect to time. For example,the elderly bereaved young adults may become withdrawn, and limit social interaction with individuals in the society. The result may include social stigmatization and poor relationships. Ultimately, the bereaved young adults may end up with mental disorders such as depression resulting in poor physical health. It is for this reason that psychologists and sociologists recommend that the society understands the developmental competence of elderly bereaved young adults in order to eliminate these adverse effects of parental bereavement. The degree of the effect of parent bereavement concerning developmental competence is partly affected by family adaptability and cohesion. Pre-death parent and child psychiatric disorder often affect the child- parent functioning, although younger children at the time of the parents’ death are less vulnerable to the negative developmental effects of bereavement.Lack of provision of adequate information, especially to elderly bereaved young adults at the time of death has contributed to fear and isolation feeling in such adults. Conclusion The discussion illustrates the varying nature of parental death on young adults. The damaging effect on parent bereavement results from neglectful or inappropriate management of the society and welfare organizations. In addition, parent bereavement may affect the entire n family and extensive dependency in some members of the falmily resulting in increased stress levels bereaved young adults. It also causes disruption of daily life and discontinuation of life events. Additionally, elderly bereaved young adults experience emotional difficulties and loneliness in the adulthood. Parental bereavement in elderly bereaved young adults affects their quality of relationships with friends and friends. In this regard, the adults may feel unsafe to engage in such relationship or avoid them due to changes in parental capacity and overdependence by the younger siblings. Poor social skills may result in loss of self-esteem and confidence in adulthood. The continuous suffering may be avoided through the integration of appropriate social support of elderly bereaved young adults by their families, friends and the entire society. In this regard, all support organizations may implement the guiding policies set by the Childhood Bereavement Network. The guidelines illustrate appropriate measures for the society members to support bereaved young adults by acknowledging the importance of mentorship and counseling. The guidelines provide alternative practical solution to finance social and economic needs of bereaved children. References Shapiro, E.R. (1994). Grief as a Family Process: A Developmental Approach to Clinical Practice. New York: Guliford Press, Print. Read More