ABSTRACT
Adolescence refers to the age of transitions between childhood and adulthood (Elder, 1990), and is a particularly challenging period of the life span (HermanStahl et al., 1995). During this period adolescents are confronted by changes in different aspects of their lives, including cognitive development, changes of body image, development of identity, achieving independence from the family while staying connected, fitting into a peer group, and fulfilling the requirements of schooling (Chan, 1995; Deveau, 1990; Frydenberg, 1997). When the death of a parent superimposes itself on these numerous transitions, it is likely to precipitate an extreme life crisis for the adolescent. It may produce intense and enduring emotional stress, affecting many areas of an adolescent's life, and can impair successful completion of developmental tasks, presenting obstacles to the transition to young adulthood (Balk, 1991; Fleming and Balmer, 1996). It is believed that among all the key relationship changes for adolescents, the death of a parent is likely the greatest loss (Raphael, 1996). Most western researchers agree that losing a parent is a major developmental and emotional challenge to an individual. In Chinese societies, where the Confucian philosophy of filial piety still prevails, parental loss could no longer fulfil their social responsibilities and moral obligations of taking care of the parent (Chan and Mak, 2000).
