Childhood bereavement circumstances associated with adult depression

Seventy-nine women whose mothers had died during the subjects' childhood and whose fathers had remarried were studied to determine how bereavement might dispose to depression in adulthood. Lower social class appeared the most consistent predictor. The sudden death of the mother, the older age of the child, the perception of family support as being deficient in the immediate post-bereavement phase, a longer delay between the mother's death and the stepmother's assuming a maternal role, and the judgement of any replacement mother-figure as being inadequate were associated with adult depression. An important negative finding was that depression in the bereavement phase was neither predictive of a subsequent episode of depression nor of higher levels of state and trait depression in adulthood.