182 Grief and Loss Across the Lifespan
Parents’ and Siblings’ Experiences of a Young Adult’s Death
The death of a young adult family member is chronologically “out of sync”
and causes changes in the family structure. When a young adult dies, the loss
often leads to prolonged grief due to the loss of the future marker events such
as graduations, weddings, and births that family members have to endure
throughout the life cycle (Harrington-LaMorrie, Carroll, & Beck, 2014; Walsh &
McGoldrick, 2004). For parents and siblings, the loss of a young adult child
can be complicated by ambivalent reactions to the young adult’s behavior (if
applicable) such as drug use, risk-taking, life-choices, sexual or gender orien-
tation, or any behavior that the family members may associate with the death
in some way.
Families often mourn by remembering their deceased children with
memorials, charitable organizations, and other ways of keeping the child’s
memories alive. For parents of young adults who took their own lives (sui-
cide), these public memorials are more difficult to negotiate. Nevertheless,
families need to assure that the deceased young adult is “still part of the fam-
ily” (Maple, Edwards, Minichiello, & Plummer, 2013). Finding ways to con-
tinue the bond with the son or daughter they lost felt necessary and intuitive.
Maple et al. (2013) observe that as parents became more “confident in their
own grief experience” (p. 67), they were able to express these bonds more
openly, and use and offer support more freely.Typical and Maturational Losses in Early Adulthood
Loss of Young Adult’s Ability to Pursue Their Vocational/Career Aspirations
The economic depression that began in 2008 to 2009 is still affecting the ability
of many young adults to realize their career goals and dreams. The vignette of
Henry at the beginning of this chapter demonstrates how job loss can involve
the loss of career goals and self-confidence. Kudu’s reading at the end of the
Middle Adulthood chapter exemplifies much the same dynamic, although
with less of the idealism and hope of young adulthood. Young adults are
thwarted in the developmental task of establishing a place in the world; find-
ing work that matches skills and talents and is satisfying is a critical task of
young adulthood. One of the issues that young unemployed adults confront
is that they must feel self-confident and make a good impression during a job
interview at the very point where they are likely to lack such confidence.
The vignette also demonstrates how job loss can affect an entire fam-
ily as they struggle to reset the balance of roles within the family. Although
Henry found a meaningful way to cope with the loss of his “dream career” by
switching gears, returning to school and preparing for a career that allowed
more stable income and satisfaction, the family dynamics were changed.
Although many young adults have not yet established families, work loss can
change life trajectories dramatically in young adulthood.
At the end of this chapter, Shdaimah’s case presentation “Connecting
and Disconnecting: Losses from Leaving Street Based Work” speaks to a
young adult’s work-related loss of her image of self which comes in two