55 relationships with their mothers at the time of death; two cited extremely close and loving relationships with their father who died; two claimed distant, yet fond relationships with their father who died. All reported detached /dysfunctional relationships with their surviving parent for a significant length of time following the other parent’s death. This considerable variance in the reported ‘quality of relationship’ between each participant and their parent who died is significant to note; as the coming discussion will show, these participants were impacted by the death, regardless of their feelings about that parent at the time of death. And the ubiquitous loss of the second parent through estrangement also comes to bear on participants’ current experience and functioning.
Chart #1 Participants’ Present Demographic Data
Age
Minnie 47y
Luna 59y
Marit 59y
Tawny 59y
Pricilla 51y
Mandy 49y
Race
White
White
White
White
White
White
Gender
Female
Female
Female
Female
Female
Female
Education
PhD studies
PhD studies
MA
MA
BS
BA
Marital Status
Married 21y
Separated/ m. 24y
Married 32y
Married 22y
Married 27y
Married 24y
# Children
3 daughters 22, 19, 17y
1 daughter 20y
3 daughters 28, 25, 23y
1 daughter 20y 1 son, 17y
2 daughters 25, 16y 3 sons, 26, 23, 19y
1 daughter 20y 3 sons 17, 13, 12y
