The effect of sudden sibling loss on the adolescent or young adult

Most research on sibling loss has concentrated on the effect of sibling loss in early childhood, but little is known about how the sudden death of a sibling affects the late adolescent or young adult. Although there are no definite boundaries to define adolescence or young adulthood, for the purpose of this article, it occurs between sixteen and thirty years of age. This paper is a review of the literature on such a loss and examines how adolescents grieve and the effect of family dynamics before and after the death and attempts to indicate ways in which adolescents can be helped at such a time.