References: Coping with change & milestones

The key studies and reviews behind these pages – organised by topic, so you can see exactly what each claim on the site is based on.

Losing a parent

  • Doka, K.J. (1989). Disenfranchised Grief: Recognizing Hidden Sorrows. Lexington Books. The foundational text naming why “expected” losses like a parent’s death often receive less social recognition and support than sudden or out-of-order losses – the source behind this page’s point that the on-time loss carries its own, often unacknowledged, weight.
  • Umberson, D. (2003). Death of a Parent: Transition to a New Adult Identity. Cambridge University Press. A full-length study of the identity shift adult children go through after losing a parent – the main source behind this page’s framing of the parent-child bond as an asymmetric relationship, not a peer one, and the loss as identity-shaping rather than purely emotional.
  • Scharlach, A.E. & Fredriksen, K.I. (1993). “Reactions to the death of a parent during midlife.” Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 27(4), 307-319. Documents the shifts in autonomy, responsibility and family role that follow a parent’s death in midlife – the source behind this page’s note on moving up a generation.
  • Scharlach, A.E. (1991). “Factors associated with filial grief following the death of an elderly parent.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 61(2), 307-313. Identifies the quality of the parent-child relationship as a key factor shaping grief intensity – the source behind this page’s point that a complicated relationship can bring relief, guilt and sorrow at once.

Becoming a carer

  • Zarit, S.H., Reever, K.E. & Bach-Peterson, J. (1980). “Relatives of the Impaired Elderly: Correlates of Feelings of Burden.” The Gerontologist, 20(6), 649–655. The foundational study establishing caregiver burden as a measurable experience distinct from the underlying condition being cared for – the source behind this page’s framing of caring as its own, cumulative strain.
  • Pearlin, L.I., Mullan, J.T., Semple, S.J. & Skaff, M.M. (1990). “Caregiving and the Stress Process: An Overview of Concepts and Their Measures.” The Gerontologist, 30(5), 583–594. Identifies the “diminishment of self-concepts” as a documented secondary strain of caregiving, distinct from the practical demands of the role itself – the source behind this page’s point that losing yourself in the role is a known risk, not a personal failing.
  • Twigg, J. & Atkin, K. (1994). Carers Perceived: Policy and Practice in Informal Care. Open University Press. A foundational British study of how carers are recognised, or overlooked, by the services meant to support them – the source behind this page’s point that carers are consistently underrecognised, including by themselves.
  • Lloyd, L. (2006). “Call Us Carers: Limitations and Risks in Campaigning for Recognition and Exclusivity.” Critical Social Policy, 26(4), 945–960. Examines why so many people delay identifying as a “carer” even once the role has fully taken hold – the source behind this page’s point that the word often arrives late.