Psychological symptomatology following parental death in a predominantly minority sample of children and adolescents

Examined the psychological correlates related to experiencing the death of a parent, the main and interactive effects of sex, race, and age on youth d istress and the degree of cross-informant correspondence on the outcome mea sures. The predominately minority sample included 80 bereaved youth and 45 nonbereaved youth. Youth and their legal guardians completed a battery of q uestionnaires, including measures assessing the youth's psychological sympt omatology. Results revealed that bereaved youth manifested greater psycholo gical and behavior problems than their nonbereaved counterparts on guardian -reported measures (Child Behavior Checklist [CBCL]). The clinical signific ance of parental death experienced during childhood is indicated by the mag nitude of distress exhibited by the bereaved sample; almost one quarter of bereaved youth scored in the clinical distress range (T score greater than or equal to 63) on the CBCL Externalizing and Internalizing Distress scales . The effect of parental death on guardian-reported externalizing distress was moderated by race, such that distress levels did not significantly diff er between bereaved and nonbereaved minority youth but did differ significa ntly among bereaved and nonbereaved nonminority youth. Finally, the degree of cross-informant agreement was relatively low but consistent with prior s tudies. Study implications for interventions with bereaved youth and direct ions for future research are discussed.