ased. The authors also found that depending on the age of the daughter at the time of the loss, individuals experienced adverse psychosocial effects to personal identity and sexual behavior.
Specifically Sigman and Wilson (1998) concluded that both the strength of the mother/daughter bond (measured as the survivors' perceived positive attachment to the mother) and the age of the survivor at the time of the mother's death were most likely to affect post-loss symptomology. Younger daughters were found to be more vulnerable to these effects than older women, but older women reporting a strong bonding with their mothers also experienced pain and suffering that endured for a significant period of time following the loss.
In a study of adolescent daughters of mothers diagnosed with breast cancer, Spira and Kenemore (2000) reported that adolescent females ages 12 to 19 undergo extreme anxiety about changes in family roles attendant upon the impending loss of their mother, but are more concerned about
...