Abstract
Continuing bonds research has predominantly focused on adults and considered from an individualistic perspective; consequently, little is known about how such bonds may be developed relationally within families. This study aimed to explore how parentally bereaved children and their parent/caregiver co-construct continuing bonds. Eight families were recruited, and parent/caregivers and their children were interviewed together. Narrative analysis explored semantic themes and interactional processes. The findings highlighted that continuing bonds are co-constructed through regular joint remembering, family acts of remembrance, joint connecting through objects and shared interpretations of signs from the deceased. Constructive interactional processes included collaboration, agreement and sharing positive narratives about the deceased. Co-construction can be inhibited by difficult relationships with the deceased and conflictual interactional processes and disengagement from remembering. Recommendations propose providing systemically informed bereavement support. Further research into the co- construction of continuing bonds in multi-sibling families and outside Western cultural contexts is desirable.
Awarding Institution(s)
University of Plymouth
Supervisor
Steve Minton, Jacqui Stedmon
Keywords
Child Bereavement, Continuing Bonds, Family Bereavement, Co-construction, Grief
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Date
2025
Embargo Period
2026-09-10
Deposit Date
September 2025
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Summers, M. (2025) “We've just kind of woven in all these different ways of keeping him close by” A narrative analysis of how children and their surviving parent co-construct continuing bonds following parental death. Thesis. University of Plymouth. Retrieved from https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/psy-theses/179
