MOURNING THE LOSS OF SELF AS FATHER - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF FATHERHOOD AMONG THE DRUZE

IT is within the context of the parent-child relationship-through the processes of attachment, loss, separation and individuation-that we grow and develop interpersonally and intrapsychically (Bowlby 1969, 1980; Mahler et al. 1975; Pollock, 1989). Most developmentalists agree that changes in the parent-child relationship continue to influence both parents and children throughout the life cycle (Cohen et al. 1984; Colarusso and Nemiroff 1982). While there is a vast body of literature devoted to discussing changes that occur in the parent-child relationship during the "formative years," little has been written about what happens to that relationship after the children leave home to start families of their own. Moreover, most researchers investigate the processes of attachment, loss, separation and individuation in terms of the child's development. Little is known about how the child's quest for independence affects the psychological development of his/her parents. Those writers who have addressed the issue of individuation in later life tend to focus on the adult child's continuing struggle to separate and individuate from his/her real or imagined parents (Levinson, 1978).