Abstract
Parental loss in adolescence is one of the most traumatic events one can experience at this developmental period. Research has found many short- and long-term effects of parental bereavement including poorer mental health as well as increased empathy and growth. There are many models of grief which are often based on adult experiences and an increasing amount of literature has found that adolescent grief is experienced differently to adults. This paper aims to develop a greater understanding of grief in adolescence and how grief changes over time as individuals move through developmental phases. To explore this, semi structured interviews that took place with 15 young adults (20-30) who experienced parental bereavement in adolescence (10-20). Key themes of grief were a sense of loss that challenged their identity and understanding of the world, an intense social pressure that often led to expressing grief in private, a non-linear progression of grief with distress often happening years after the death and a development of appreciation of how grief has shaped their identity. Grief was influenced by both immediate social pressures but also by wider narratives on what grief is. This led to adolescents and later, young adults feeling unable to express their grief for fear of the social implications. The paper supports the conceptualisation that grief is non-linear and multi-faceted and warns of the risks of pathologising grief reactions.