Identity Development and Grieving: The Evolving Processes for Parentally Bereaved Women

This paper is a report of the findings from a qualitative researchstudy that explored how the death of a parent influences femaleadolescents, with particular focus on women’s evolvingidentity development. A sample of eighteen women was recruitedfor the study. Findings highlight that constructing a relationshipto the deceased, shifting family dynamics and the ebb and flowof grieving influenced identity development. The women’sdevelopment allowed them to more fully recognize their parent’ssubjectivity and, in turn, allowed them to see more aspectsof themselves. The active process of ‘re-membering’(Myerhoff, 1982) the deceased through a variety of activitiescontributed to identity development. Implications for socialwork practice will be discussed.