IEE3322

HUMAN BEHAVIORS IN THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

Parental Death and Impacts on Children
Zi Yang, Warren Ang (2015843776)
Professor Jeong Ansuk
Fall 2015

PARENTAL DEATH & THE IMPACTS ON CHILDREN

Introduction
It is commonly known and understood that with the gift of life comes an inevitable
death. In any given context, some may be given life for a short period of time while others
may have the luxury of a longer one. When considering human life, complex emotions and
psychological implications accompany the death of humans, especially the deaths of those
who are the closest to us. This complexity intensifies especially for children who face much
more difficulty coping with such a loss (Perry & Rubenstein, 2015). As part of this paper, I
will be analysing parental death as the stressor and how it affects the development of a child
following the death of his/her parent.
Parental Death
The loss of a parent while a child is still young is definitely one of the most traumatic
event in his/her life. This loss will directly cause emotional stress and deprives the child of
love, nurturing, values, information and also discipline. Furthermore, it also reduces the
investment in a childs human capital and has long-lasting implications on their quality of life
(Cas, Frankenberg, Suriastini, & Thomas, 2014). In the Singaporean context, it is a common
for most children to experience the death of his/her parent after they have entered into
adulthood. However, there are still quite a substantial amount of children who have
experienced the death of a parent before the age of 18, resulting in them living in a singleparent household during their growing years.
My Personal Experience
On a personal level, I had experienced the death of my father when I was in high
school. His death was one which was extremely sudden and no one in the family had
expected such a scenario happening within our household at that point of time. The initial
shock had caught us off guard and we were all unsure how to react to the entire situation.

PARENTAL DEATH & THE IMPACTS ON CHILDREN

Even after the funeral rites and bereavement period, our entire family was still badly shaken
for a lengthy period of time. It was difficult coping with the initial loss and the harsh
realization that my father was never going to be by my side for the rest of my life.
Understanding Parental Death from a Childs Perspective
Experiencing a parents death interrupts a childs normative developmental processes
as it places the child in a situation where they are at a risk for various emotional, social and
physical problems. The bereavement that is rooted in the child often leave emotional scars
and this is something that society does not fully understand (Zaslow, 2010). A childs
experience of the death of parental death and his/her subsequent grieving process are different
in various ways. These differences are dependent on numerous factors, which include their
developmental stage, surroundings and the availability of a strong support system.
Developmental Theory
A childs perception of death relates directly to the childs level of cognition.
Therefore, the developmental stages of a child can influence how he/she may conceptualize
and respond to the death of his/her parent, subsequently influencing the risk a child faces as
he/she grows older. In this aspect, developmental theories can be used to better understand
the normative processes of grieving children. Depending on the developmental stage,
children may react and behave differently in response to parental death. Perceptions of death
will change as children progress through the different developmental stages (Hopkins, 2002).
Understanding the responses and behaviours of children following the death of their parent
over different stages is important as this ensures that proper help is provided by family
members and other support systems to accommodate to the childs unique needs.

PARENTAL DEATH & THE IMPACTS ON CHILDREN

Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

According to Piaget, there are 4 stages of development for children which are the
sensorimotor stage (0 to 18 months old), pre-operational stage (18 months to 6 years old),
concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years old) and formal operational stage (11 years old
onwards) (McLeod, 2015). This theory focuses on the fact that a young childs development
will be significantly different from that of a child who is in middle or late childhood. By
looking at the bereavement period of children in these different stages, Piagets stages of
cognitive development can be applied to better understand and explain why a child respond in
a particular manner following parental death.
Understanding and Responding to Death at Different Stages
Pre-Operational Stage
Children in the pre-operational stage tend to have lesser understanding of death than
children in the concrete and formal operational stages. This is because children at that age do
not have the capability to understand the true meaning of death, that death is irreversible and
will inevitably happen to everyone. The fact that the concept of death is still extremely
foreign to them meant that they are unable to comprehend what death really means.
Children at this stage are able to recognize that people exist separately from
themselves and consider themselves to be in the centre of their own world (Silverman, 2010).
Even though death as a concept is unclear, they understand death as a form of separation from
their world and with it comes along a certain degree of sadness. This sadness arises from how
these children view their family members and close relatives during the mourning process, as
they learn and adjust their emotions based on the situation. Following emotions of sadness,
these children quickly becomes aware that their family is different from the rest of his/her
friends. Curiosity kicks in as they begin to ask questions about what happened to the

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deceased parent, where they are and whether if they are coming back (Patterson, 2009). It this
thus important for the family to ensure that children in this stage are well-protected from the
negative environmental factors which will severely affect their psychological well-being
when growing up.
Concrete Operational Stage
The concrete operational stage can be described as the most difficult and vulnerable
stage following parental death. As the children are older, they have a better understanding of
death knows that it there is a cause to it. Even though they have grasped the concept of death,
they are unable to understand that death is inevitable and questions the reasons for it
happening and the possibility of it being avoided (Silverman, 2010).
My Personal Experiences
My Younger Brother as a Child in the Concrete Operational Stage
As a child in the concrete operational stage, the death of my father had affected my
brother as he tried to understand what exactly had happened and the reasons behind it. The
emotional distress suffered as a young child at that point of time had made him extremely
vulnerable and a lot of time and effort was placed into understanding his feelings and telling
him what really has happened due to his state of vulnerability. The absence of a father during
his growth from his concrete to the formal operational stage has definitely altered the course
of his development but my mother firmly believed in providing the best to ensure that his
development remains the same as any other children in his age group.
Myself as a Child in the Formal Operational Stage
The death of my father has definitely shaped my development from a young
adolescent to an adult in a different way from my younger brothers. As I was already in the

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formal operational development stage, I was able to fully understand the complexity of death
and verbally communicate my feelings and reactions to my family members and friends.
Personally as the eldest son, I understood the responsibility that I had to undertake following
his death, that I was now the man of the family. I knew that I could no longer be the same
young and immature self during my adolescence years and I need to start being a more
independent individual so that I could be the physical and psychological support of my
family.
This experience demonstrates that at a formal operational stage of development, I was
able to accept the reality of loss through operational thinking. As an operational thinker, I was
able to consider what has happened, what is the present situation and what future
consequences are (Cherry, 2015) while much more help needs to be provide to our younger
siblings who do not have a clear understanding about death as we attempt to adjust to a life
without my father being by our side.
Limitations of Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development
Even though Piagets stages of cognitive development was able to demonstrate how
children at different developmental stages respond to death, it does not specifically identify
the various environmental factors experienced by these children. As such, this theory failed to
analyse how the childs environment and surroundings will influence their behaviours
following the death of their parent. Therefore, by simply looking at Piagets Stages of
Cognitive Development theory to understand the impact of parental death on child
development is insufficient due to it being one dimensional.
Social Ecological Models
Interactions with the external world are crucial in understanding development. As
such, social ecological models were developed to generate a better understanding of the

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dynamic interactions of people and environmental factors and how development is influenced
by these interactions. The use of such models will complement Piagets Stages of
Development to allow us to analyse how different environmental interactions subsequently
affects a child development following the parental death.
Bronfenbrenners Ecological Systems Theory
As part of this paper, Bronfenbrenners ecological systems theory will be used to
analyse my interactions with different environmental factors following my fathers death.
This theory suggests that the different aspects or levels of the environment that will influence
a childs development includes the microsystem, mesosystem, exosytem and macrosystem
(Oswalt, 2015).
The Microsystem and My Personal Experience
Microsystems refers to the activities and interactions encompassed within their
immediate surroundings such as family members and school (Oswalt, 2015), and these
interactions are the crucial in determining how a childs development is enhanced or
undermined.
As a family, we understood that prolonged grieving would interfere with our daily
activities such as school and work. Therefore, we established the fact that we have to quickly
get ourselves back into our normal lives and remain strong despite how sudden his death was.
We knew that maintaining a strong parent-child bond is vital following the death of a parent.
Our family bonds were stronger, especially between myself and my mother, as we understood
the importance of appreciating all our family members and not taking them for granted. This
was extremely significant as together as a family, we agreed that by being sad and leading a
life full of regrets will simply just hamper our development and progress. We became closer
and knew that we still have each others support as we move forward. Similarly, my teachers

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and friends in school were understanding of my situation and often provided much kind
words of condolences. My teachers in school ensured that my studies were not affected by
consistently checking on me, providing me with a listening ear and help whenever I needed
it. My close friends were mature enough to be sensitive to my situation and also provided
helped me academically and personally.
The Mesosystem and My Personal Experience
Mesosystems refers to the different parts of a childs microsystem working together to
help the development of the child (Oswalt, 2015). For children who are much younger, the
relationship the child has with the parent is sometimes the only mesosystem present prior to
the parents death. Therefore, it is crucial for other microsystems, such as school teachers, to
fill in the missing void present in the lives of these children (Judd, 2014) to ensure that their
development is not undermined.
Our family was privileged to have members from our respective schools coming
forward to help us during the bereavement period and the post funeral period. This included
financial aid programmes to assist my mother financially at a period of time when she had to
carry the burden of being the sole breadwinner of the family. Apart from that, there was
constant communication between the schools and my mother to ensure that everything was
progressing well in my family. This interaction ensured that our academics and development
can still continue to progress smoothly despite going through a tough period of grieving.
The Exosystem and My Personal Experience
The exosystem includes the other people and places that the children may not interact
often but still have a large effect on him/her such as parents workface, extended family
members and the neighbourhood (Oswalt, 2015).

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The interactions between myself and my parents work colleagues were not as
significant and did not affect my development in any way. On the other hand, there were
more direct interactions between my extended family members and neighbours. Knowing that
this was a period of struggle both financially and psychologically, they were extremely
helpful by providing us both financial and social support in the months following his death.
There were increased communications between us and our extended family members,
especially my grandaunt, who was constantly checking on our situation. This was due to the
fact that she had underwent a similar experience, understood how badly it had affected her
children and did not want a similar occurrence to happen in our family.
. The Macrosystem and My Personal Experience
The final level is the marcosystem, which represents the largest and most remote set
of people and things to a child but which still has a great influence over the child (Oswalt,
2015). The value placed on the childrens needs by the macrosystem is significant in
influencing the amount of support they receive in the inner levels of the environment when it
comes to parental death (Fenske, 2009).
For my community wise, I was privileged to be assisted by my community leaders
through financial means since my late father was actively involved in various community
work. They also assisted in terms of the facilitation of me being able to receive certain
bursaries to remove the financial burden off my mothers shoulders when it comes to funding
for my educational expenses. In return, I became more involved in various community
activities, meeting and understanding different people who are in the same situation as I was.
I am extremely grateful for my community who really took additional care of families who
are in caught in such a situation. This simple act ensures that we as children are able to grow
and develop in the best environment as possible.

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Conclusion
The impact of the two aforementioned theories have their varying explanations about
how I responded to my fathers death and how it subsequently affected my development. It is
important to consider that children respond to death differently at different development
stages. In addition, the rich interactions of the child and the various parties involved in his/her
microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem play a significant role in affecting
the overall development of a child. Parental death as an independent event definitely has its
negative impacts on a child and may drastically change the course a child is heading towards.
However, it is the small details of the interactions the child has with the different parties in
his/her environment that is more significant in determining how a child is being brought back
into the reality of a loss of his/her parent and laying the foundation for healthy growth in the
future. It is no doubt that the death of my father has affected my development in one way or
another, but it is not all negative. I am grateful that my environment has provided me the
platform to re-insert myself back into my daily routines and continue a positive development
as I mature into adulthood.

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References
Cas, A. G., Frankenberg, E., Suriastini, W., & Thomas, D. (2014, November 13). The Impact of
Parental Death on Child Well-being: Evidence From the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Retrieved
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4229656/
Cherry, K. (2015, June 12). Formal Operational Stage of Cognitive Development. Retrieved from
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Fenske, P. (2009, April 28). Ecological Systems Theory. Retrieved from The International Child &
Youth Care Network: http://www.cyc-net.org/quote3/quote-1429.html
Hopkins, A. (2002). Children and Grief - The Role of the Early Childhood Educator. National
Association for the Education of Young Children.
Judd, D. (2014). Bereavement: Helping parents and children cope when someone close to them dies.
Retrieved from Understanding Childhood:
http://www.understandingchildhood.net/posts/bereavement-helping-parents-and-childrencope-when-someone-close-to-them-dies/
McLeod, S. (2015). Jean Piaget. Retrieved from Simply Psychology:
www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
Oswalt, A. (2015, November 18). Urie Bronfenbrenner And Child Development. Retrieved from
Mental Help: https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/urie-bronfenbrenner-and-childdevelopment/

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Patterson, B. (2009, September 3). The Death of a Parent: Healing Childrens Grief. Retrieved from
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Perry, B., & Rubenstein, J. (2015). The Child's Loss: Death, Grief and Mourning. Retrieved from
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Zaslow, J. (2010, June 2). Families With a Missing Piece. Retrieved from The Wall Street Journal:
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