The death of a parent is one of the most traumatic events that a child can experience in their life . This is an event that can have many serious short-term psychological consequences. Now, a new study carried out by the University of Aarhus (Denmark) suggests that another of the long-term non-psychological consequences is an increased risk of mortality when entering early adulthood.
The study, which has been published in the journal PloS One , explains that the effects of this tragic event go beyond the psychological environment, since the percentage of dying before the age of 40 is 50% more compared to people who they have not experienced the death of a parent before the age of 18.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed data on children born in Denmark between 1968 and 2008, in Sweden between 1973 and 2006, and in Finland between 1987 and 2006. Of all of them, 2.6% lost one of their parents. when they were between 6 months and 18 years old . After this, the experts discovered that there were more possibilities of death among children whose parents died due to an accident, compared to cases of death due to natural causes .
"These results justify the need for health and social support for children who are going through difficult times and that this support from administrations must be for a long period of time, " says Jiong Li, leader of the study.
