the role of pathological and normal grief in the prevalence of mental disorders among adolescents

for the purpose of studying the effects of pathological and normal grief on the prevalence of mental disorders among adolescents. 164 intermediate and highschool students were administered a grief inventory and a questionnarire assessing mental disorders. among the study group 83 students had experienced the death of one of their family members (mostly fathers), and 81 did not have such experience.results indicated that : 1) the students who has experienced grief scored higher than other students, on measures of ptsd, obsessional thoughts, and motor tics. 2) the scores of students who has experienced pathological grief were higher than the scores of students who has experienced normal grief on ptsd, obsesional thoughts, motor tics, and general anxiety disorder. 3) the subjects whose parents had died in an accident, scored higher than those whose parents ahd died as a result of an illness, on oppositional disorder and disobediance. 4) the scores of subjects who has lost their parents between the ages 2-7, were higher than the scores of subjects who has lost their parents when they wre older, on adhd, 5) the girsl who had experienced grief has higher scores on specific phobias, and social anxiety where as boys with similar experiences showed higher scores on adhd, conduct disorder, and vocal tics.