Anticipatory grief and psychological adjustment to grieving in middle-aged children

This study examines the effect of anticipatory grief on personal adjustment in middle-aged adult children following the death of their last surviving elderly parent. Data were analyzed from a study of adult children's perspectives of an elderly parent's death conducted by the Philadelphia Geriatric Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The results of this study indicate that adult children who experienced anticipatory grief were likely to report feeling better adjusted to the death of their elderly parent, yet the composite measure used to assess degree of personal adjustment indicates a negative relationship between the anticipation of death and personal adjustment following the actual loss. This finding was consistent across gender and racial and ethnic distinctions among adult children who participated in this study. The significance of this finding for grief work and its implications for future research are discussed.