Examined the impact of the loss of a parent on middle-aged children. A lifelong process of anticipatory orphanhood is suggested as helping to prepare for the impact of a parent's death. Reaction involves the dialectic between the persistence and breaking of the bond and between finitude and personal growth. (JAC)

Some family transitions have been reshaped by demographic changes in recent years. Changes in mortality patterns have expanded the duration of individual lives and family relationships. The death of a child, once an expectable part of life, is now so rare that it constitutes a major life crisis. Facing the death of one's parents, still a normal…