Co-occurrence of psychosocial sequelae in bereaved offspring

Previous studies have found that people who have lost a parent to external causes of death during childhood and adolescence have increased risks of psychosocial sequelae. However, we lack information on the potential co-occurrence of these problems. This study aims to investigate the co-occurrence of psychiatric disorders, deliberate self-harm (DSH) hospitalization, and high school non-completion in people who have lost a parent to external causes of death during childhood and adolescence compared to people who have not experienced such loss.

The study cohort comprised 655 477 individuals born 1970-2012 with a link to both parents. Data on psychiatric disorders, DSH hospitalization, high school completion and parental death were retrieved from four longitudinal Norwegian registers. Chi-square tests of independence investigated potential differences in co-occurrence between bereaved and non-bereaved people.

Altogether, 4756 people had experienced the death of a parent due to external causes of death before their 18th birthday. These bereaved offspring had a significantly higher likelihood of having one, two and three adverse outcomes compared to people who had not experienced such loss. Specifically, bereaved offspring had a significantly higher co-occurrence of psychiatric disorders and high school non-completion, but not significantly higher co-occurrences of DSH hospitalization and high school non-completion or DSH hospitalization and psychiatric disorders.

Information concerning DSH hospitalization and psychiatric disorders was only available from 2008 onwards CONCLUSIONS: : The significantly higher co-occurrence in bereaved offspring suggests that the relatively small group of people suffering from extensive sequelae should be particularly targeted for postvention measures.