The purpose of this study was to investigate the manner in which the death of a sibling affected an adolescent and his/her family relationships. Participants were required to complete two standardized scales pertaining to family environment and fears of death. The bereaved individuals also participated in a semi-structured interview to identify the precise nature of the manner in which both the adolescent and her/his family coped with the death of a sibling.

The results of both the survey and the interview indicated that there seems to be two types of reactions to a sibling's death by the family. They either become very close or the relationship of the sibling with the remaining family members disintegrates. This study also indicated that fear of death is related to the family environment. An important finding of this study was that siblings who are most at risk of becoming estranged from their family following the death of their sibling are those whom are left as only children. From the interviews, it appears that adolescent sibling bereavement has many long-term effects on the surviving child. Bereavement and grief may also affect the bereaved siblings' own families in later life.