ABSTRACT
This chapter considers three broad groups of factors in terms of their contribution to bereavement outcome following the death of a baby: sociodemographic and background characteristics, aspects of the loss and other pregnancies, and social support. Overall, sociodemographic characteristics were only weakly associated with outcome patterns. The chapter highlights a number of factors that appear to influence bereavement outcome following the death of a baby. Having other children in the home was associated with significantly higher rates of mental health problems, especially in the form of enduring distress, following the death of a baby. Marital satisfaction and perceived adequacy of social support were the strongest predictors of enduring distress and, indeed, were the only variables to remain statistically significant once adjustments were made for the other variables. Perhaps one of the most unexpected findings concerned the patterns of adjustment for bereaved mothers who had other children.
