Now that Mom\u27s gone: African-American middle-aged daughters\u27 experiences of bereavement

This study examines the bereavement experience of African American, middle aged daughters upon the death of their elderly mothers. Thirty women ranging in age from 39 to 68 were interviewed six to nine months after their mothers\u27 death. The purpose of these interview sessions was to gain an understanding of the meaning and impact of an elderly mother\u27s death on the lives of middle aged daughters, their families and their racial community. To accomplish this goal, an open-ended interview lasting approximately one and one-half hours was conducted with each informant. The data generated were then transcribed and analyzed using the grounded theoretical approach of Glaser and Strauss (1967) and comparative methods in qualitative gerontological research described by Gubrium and Sankar (1994). These methods of analyzing qualitative data use specific coding paradigms to generate conceptual patterns and themes. Findings suggest that elderly African American mothers play important roles in the maintenance of the family and racial community over their life course. Themes emerging from this research reflect the multiple roles played by elderly mothers in the lives of daughters, family and racial community as well as the significance of their loss upon death. Themes characterizing the bereavement of middle aged daughters identified were reciprocity in the mother-daughter relationship as a predictor of guilt in daughters\u27 bereavement, idealization of deceased mothers in personal and community contexts, personal meanings associated with mothers\u27 death and the community context of African American motherhood. These findings stand to make a contribution to ethnic-sensitive social work practice with African American women who are coping with issues of death and dying related to the loss of elderly mothers. Increased awareness by social work practitioners of the relationship between culture, race, social class and gender influences and the experience of death and loss will facilitate the development of more effective intervention skills and consequently more viable helping relationships with diverse racial-ethnic client groups. Implications for future research are also discussed