The Role of Gender in Middle-Age Children's Responses to Parent Death

The impact of the deaths of the last surviving elderly parent of 212 middle-aged children was studied. Daughters expressed more emotional upset, somatic response, and continuing tie with the deceased parent than sons; sons reported more acceptance of the death than daughters. The child's gender was not associated with a sense of personal finitude or control of grief. When we control in regressions for characteristics of the parent, the child, and the quality of their relationship, child's gender continued to add significantly to the bereavement outcomes above.