Parental losses

In a review article parental losses (PL) of children in different age and sex groups are psycho‐analytically examined from the view point of the triangular family relationship, cognitive development of the children and their ability to mourn, delinquency, schizophrenia and affective illnesses, and lastly the controversies about and objections to bereavement study findings. It is concluded that many methodological problems make it difficult to compare study findings. Some unchallengable laws have been found, but any single explanation of their aetiological meaning could not be shown. It is obvious that many psychosocial variables are involved in the interpretation of PL.