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.