Well-being among young survivors and relatives – and the effect of talking about it!

Abstract

On the basis of a representative Danish Survey, investigating the well-being among 15-24-year olds, who are either bereaved from a parent or sibling, next-of-kin to a parent or sibling being seriously ill, or none of the former, we conclude that most bereaved and next-of-kin youth are doing fine. It is among those who are experiencing problems that we find most bereaved youth. Furthermore, well-being is not correlated with whether or not the participants have talked to others about their situation as bereaved/next-of-kin. However, among the troubled bereaved there is much higher prevalence of bullying and suicidal attempts among those who have not disclosed their situation to anyone. This finding is not less intriguing when we compare to the target group of youth next-of-kin, who seems not to benefit from disclosure on the mentioned dimensions. We discuss these central quantitate findings with reference to a qualitative analysis of interview material with bereaved and next-of-kin adolescents. Based on a comparative phenomenological description of the lifeworld of bereaved youth and youth next-of-kin, we suggest a more differentiated recommendation regarding emotional disclosure for the two target groups.