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Two separate bodies of literature point to the link between family bereavement and cardiovascular health and between sleep quality and cardiovascular outcomes. However, less is known about the joint influence of family bereavement and sleep quality on cardiovascular functioning. The aims of this study were to examine the relationships between experiencing the death of a family member and heart rate variability (HRV) and to further explore whether these associations differ by sleep quality. Using data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Biomarker Project, the sample for this study included respondents who experienced the death of an immediate family member - father, mother, spouse, sibling, or child - within a year before the Biomarker project and those who did not experience any deaths (N = 962). We used two measures of HRV and sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Results showed that experiencing the death of a family member was associated with worse HRV only among those with poor sleep quality and not for those with good sleep quality. These results suggest that poor sleep quality may indicate psychophysiological vulnerability for those who experienced the death of a family member. Interventions to improve sleep quality could be effective in enhancing cardiovascular health of bereaved individuals., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Although the bereavement literature is voluminous, we know very little about how exposure to multiple family member deaths across the life course shapes health trajectories as people age and whether unequal exposure to bereavement contributes to racial inequities in cardiometabolic health. We use longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (1992-2016) to consider how multiple family member deaths before midlife shape trajectories of cardiometabolic health after age 50 for Black and white adults (n = 22,974). Results show that multiple family member deaths prior to age 50 are associated with more cardiometabolic conditions at age 50 and a faster increase in conditions with advancing age. Moreover, Black adults are significantly disadvantaged by a greater risk of bereavement and more cardiometabolic conditions regardless of bereavement status. The life course trauma of exposure to multiple family member deaths uniquely contributes to the cardiometabolic risk of Black Americans.

Objective: To examine whether exposure to family member deaths throughout the life course is associated with subjective life expectancy-a person's assessment of their own mortality risk-at age 65, with attention to differences by race. Method: We analyzed 11 waves of data from a study of men and women above age 50 (Health and Retirement Study; n = 13,973). Results: Experiencing the deaths of multiple family members before the respondent is 50 years old is negatively associated with subjective life expectancy at age 65. Discussion: Understanding the life-course predictors of older adults' subjective life expectancy is particularly important because survival expectations influence long-term planning, health, and longevity. Moreover, Black Americans are exposed to more family member deaths earlier in their life compared with White Americans, with implications for long-term health and well-being.

Close relationships are a resource for mental and physical health that, like other social resources, is unequally distributed in the population. This article focuses on racial disparities in the loss of relationships across the life course. Racial disparities in life expectancy in the United States mean that black Americans experience the deaths of more friends and family members than do white Americans from childhood through later life. I argue that these losses are a unique type of stress and adversity that, through interconnected biopsychosocial pathways, contribute to disadvantage in health over the life course. I focus particularly on how the interconnected pathways associated with loss undermine opportunities for and increase risks to social ties throughout life, adding to disadvantage in health. I call on social scientists and policy makers to draw greater attention to this unique source of disadvantage for black children, adults, and families.

Bereavement is a risk factor for poor health, yet prior research has not considered how exposure to parental death across the life course may contribute to lasting social isolation and, in turn, poor health among older adults. Moreover, prior research often fails to consider the racial context of bereavement in the United States wherein Black and Hispanic Americans are much more likely than White Americans to experience parental death earlier in life. The present study uses longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; 1998–2016) to consider linkages of parental death, social isolation, and health (self-rated health, functional limitations) for Black, Hispanic, and White older adults. Findings suggest that exposure to parental death is associated with higher levels of isolation, greater odds of fair/poor self-rated health, and greater odds of functional limitations in later life. Moreover, social isolation partially explains associations between parental bereavement and later-life health. These patterns persist net of psychological distress—an additional psychosocial response to bereavement. Racial inequities in bereavement are central to disadvantage: Black and Hispanic adults are more likely to experience a parent's death earlier in the life course, and this differential exposure to parental death in childhood or young adulthood has implications for racial and ethnic inequities in social isolation and health throughout life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study documents differences in exposure to family member deaths among foreign-born and U.S.-born Hispanic individuals compared with non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White individuals. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; 1992-2016, ages 51+; N = 23,228) and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health; Waves I-V, ages 12-43; N = 11,088) to estimate the risk of exposure to the death of a mother, father, spouse, sibling, and child across the life course. HRS results show more inequities in exposure to family deaths compared with Add Health results, suggesting differences by age or birth cohort. Compared with non-Hispanic Whites, U.S.-born Hispanic individuals in the HRS have a higher risk of experiencing a child's death throughout adulthood and a sibling's death in later life; the latter is explained by larger sibship size, indicating a greater lifetime risk of bereavement experiences. The higher risk of parental death during childhood for U.S.-born and foreign-born Hispanic individuals is explained by covariates (e.g., lower levels of educational attainment). Hispanic individuals generally have a lower risk of family deaths than non-Hispanic Black individuals, but at times a higher risk of exposure relative to non-Hispanic White individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives This study considered whether experiencing the death of a child is associated with subsequent psychological distress in older populations, as well as variation in both exposure and vulnerability to the death of a child among Black, Hispanic, and White older parents. Methods We used multilevel models to link the death of a child with subsequent distress for 9,763 non-Hispanic White, 2,496 non-Hispanic Black, 1,014 foreign-born Hispanic, and 712 U.S.-born Hispanic parents from the Health and Retirement Study, 2006–2016. Results The death of a child is associated with increased psychological distress in mid to later life for Black, White, and Hispanic parents, with greater vulnerability for foreign-born Hispanic parents. Notably, Black and U.S.-born Hispanic parents are disadvantaged because of the additive effects of their greater exposure to bereavement and their higher distress levels regardless of bereavement status. These effects persist net of additional stressors associated with race/ethnicity. Discussion The death of a child is a traumatic life course event associated with lasting psychological distress for aging parents. Black and U.S.-born Hispanic parents are disadvantaged in that they are more likely than White parents to experience the death of a child, and foreign-born Hispanic parents may be disadvantaged by greater vulnerability to distress following child death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Sibling loss is understudied in the bereavement and health literature. The present study considers whether experiencing the death of siblings in mid-to-late life is associated with subsequent dementia risk and how differential exposure to sibling losses by race/ethnicity may contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in dementia risk. Methods We use discrete-time hazard regression models, a formal mediation test, and a counterfactual simulation to reveal how sibling loss in mid-to-late life affects dementia incidence and whether unequal exposures by race/ethnicity mediate the racial/ethnic disparities in dementia. We analyze data from the Health and Retirement Study (2000–2016). The sample includes 13,589 respondents (10,670 non-Hispanic White, 1,761 non-Hispanic Black, and 1,158 Hispanic adults) aged 65 years and older in 2000 who show no evidence of dementia at baseline. Results Discrete-time hazard regression results show that sibling loss in mid-to-late life is associated with up to 54% higher risk for dementia. Sibling loss contributes to Black–White disparities in dementia risk. In addition, a simulation analysis shows that dementia rates would be 14% lower for Black adults if they experienced the lower rates of sibling loss experienced by White adults. This pattern was not observed among Hispanic adults. Discussion The death of a sibling in mid-to-late life is a stressor that is associated with increased dementia risk. Black adults are disadvantaged in that they are more likely than Whites to experience the death of siblings, and such losses contribute to the already substantial racial/ethnic disadvantage in dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study considers whether experiencing the death of a child prior to midlife (by parental age 40) is associated with subsequent dementia risk, and how such losses, which are more common for black than for white parents, may add to racial disparities in dementia risk. Methods: We use discrete-time event history models to predict dementia incidence among 9,276 non-Hispanic white and 2,182 non-Hispanic black respondents from the Health and Retirement Study, 2000–2014. Results: Losing a child prior to midlife is associated with increased risk for later dementia, and adds to disparities in dementia risk associated with race. The death of a child is associated with a number of biosocial variables that contribute to subsequent dementia risk, helping to explain how the death of child may increase risk over time. Discussion: The death of a child prior to midlife is a traumatic life course stressor with consequences that appear to increase dementia risk for both black and white parents, and this increased risk is explained by biosocial processes likely activated by bereavement. However, black parents are further disadvantaged in that they are more likely than white parents to experience the death of a child, and such losses add to the already substantial racial disadvantage in dementia risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. To document short- and long-term trajectories of depressive symptoms following widowhood and to test whether these trajectories vary by gender and anticipatory spousal loss. Method. Eight waves of prospective panel data from the Health and Retirement Study, over a 14-year period, are used to evaluate gender differences in depressive symptoms following widowhood in late midlife. Short-term trajectories are modeled using a linear regression of change in Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) score on duration of widowhood. Long-term trajectories are modeled using a mixed-effects hierarchical linear model of CES-D scores over time. Results. We find no gender differences in bereavement effects on depressive symptoms in either short or long term, net of widowhood duration. When spousal death is anticipated, both men and women return to their prewidowhood levels of depressive symptoms within 24 months of becoming widowed. Across marital groups, the continuously married are better off compared with the widowed even prior to spousal loss, whereas early, long-term widowhood is associated with worse outcomes compared with late widowhood. Discussion. Although men and women do not differ in trajectories of depressive symptoms following widowhood, given similar circumstances, women are distinctly disadvantaged in that they are more likely to become widowed and under less favorable conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we assess the impact of a parent's death on adult children's physical and psychological functioning. Individuals from 24 to 96 years old were interviewed in 1986 (N = 3,617) and again in 1989 (N = 2,867). In the intervening three years, 207 respondents experienced the death of a biological parent. Our results indicate that when compared to adult children who are not bereaved, bereaved adult children experience a significant increase in psychological distress and alcohol consumption and a decline in physical health status. We also developed a theoretical framework to guide an analysis of group differences in adult children's reactions to a parent's death. Our analysis shows that some groups experience a substantially greater decline in functioning than others following a parent's death, whereas other groups actually experience improved functioning following a parent's death. Depending on the type of outcome assessed, several factors are associated with children's reactions to a parent's death: age and marital status of the child, gender of the child and the deceased parent, the quality of previous adult interactions with the deceased parent, and childhood memories of the deceased parent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have argued that the symbolic meaning of relationships affects individuals' psychological well-being and that the particular symbolic meanings attached to relationships may affect how individuals respond to the loss of those relationships. However, previous research has not directly studied the symbolic content of relationships and how that content is linked to well-being. In this study, we focus on the adult child/parent relationship because it is often viewed as a social relationship with significant symbolic value. We analyze both qualitative and quantitative data to: (1) identify symbolic meanings that relationships with parents hold for adult children; (2) consider how particular symbolic meanings are related to more traditional measures of relationship quality; and (3) examine how symbolic meanings are associated with adults' psychological reactions following the death of the parent. We provide theoretical and empirical support for the argument that the symbolic meanings of relationships should be considered in addition to more traditional measures of relationship quality in assessing the impact of relationships and relationship loss on individual well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The death of a child is a stressful and traumatic life event that has been linked to increased mortality risk among parents. Tragically, black parents are significantly more likely than white parents to lose a child in the United States; however, prior research has not addressed this racial disadvantage in relation to parents' mortality risk. In this study, we focus on the racial context of the United States to suggest that black parents already face higher mortality rates compared to white parents, and the unequal burden of child death adds to their mortality risk. Using discrete-time event history models, we consider whether the death of a child by midlife is associated with increased mortality risk for black parents and for white parents in mid- to later-life using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; 1996–2016). Descriptive results show that by midlife, black parents, especially black mothers, experience substantially higher child mortality compared with white parents. At the same time, we find that losing a child prior to midlife is associated with heightened mortality risk for aging black mothers and white mothers. Controlling for educational attainment explains the association between child death and parental mortality risk among white mothers, whereas heightened biopsychosocial and behavioral risk factors explain the association for black mothers. Overall, the death of a child is associated with increased mortality risk for black mothers and for white mothers, but the processes linking child death to parental mortality seem to differ for black and white parents. These findings have implications for policies and interventions that address increased mortality risk for parents following the death of a child. • Black mothers are most likely to experience the death of a child by midlife. • Child death increases mortality risk for aging black mothers and white mothers. • Educational attainment explains this association for white mothers. • Biopsychosocial and behavioral factors explain this association for black mothers. • The processes linking child death to parental mortality differ by race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black Americans experience the death of a parent much earlier in the life course than White Americans on average. However, studies have not considered whether the cardiovascular health consequences of early parental death vary by race. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we explore associations between early parental death and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in early to mid-adulthood (N = 4,193). We find that the death of a parent during childhood or adolescence (ages 0–17) or the transition to adulthood (ages 18–27) is associated with increased CVD risk for Black Americans, whereas parental death following the transition to adulthood (ages 28+) undermines cardiovascular health for both Black Americans and White Americans. These findings illustrate how a stress and life course perspective can help inform strategies aimed at addressing both the unequal burden of bereavement and high cardiovascular risk faced by Black Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]