Meaning Construction of Parental Bereavement in Adolescents: A Narrative Research

• Main Authors: Chang, Shu-Jung, 張淑容
• Other Authors: Wang, Ta-Wei
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/00276420139712632980

碩士 === 國立屏東大學 === 教育心理與輔導學系碩士班 === 103 === Adolescents in special development stage need different help to moderate the conflicts between bereavement and developmental issues. The purpose of the study was to understand experience and meaning construction of bereavement in losing a parent in adolescents. The method of semi-structured interview was used to collect the data, and dialogic/performance analysis of narrative research was used to analyze the data. The results of the study revealed the attachment with the deceased is crucial to adolescents’ adjustment and meaning construction. The spiritual world constructed by culture via important others and social medias helped adolescents build the world after death and provided a way to attach to the deceased. The focus from school and friends could be some kind of stress to the bereaved adolescents. Care and help from close relatives did help the bereaved family. The adolescents in bereaved family showed role changes after losing an important member. It would be a crisis if the family structure couldn’t find a way to keep it solid after loss. Bereaved adolescents use the strategies like denial, pay attention to other subjects, continued bonding to the deceased, wishing the best of the deceased. There were 5 subjects mainly constructed in the meaning construction of loss, included: death, life, self identity, health, and the deceased. In this research, one participant hold most positive views in her meaning construction of loss, another struggling in multiple conflicts in her meaning construction of loss and the other revealed his anxiety about death. The study also concluded: (a) self identity was affected by the family role changes after the death of a parent, (b) bereaved adolescents injected the value of the deceased when they were close to each other, (c) by attaching to the deceased, adolescents sustained the consistency of their inner worlds, (d) cause of death had an influence on the meaning construction of bereavement, and (e) adolescents would thrive to integrate why the parent died into their inner meaning construction. The findings may serve as a guide for further research on adolescents’ grief coping mechanism and provide context for helping bereaved adolescents.