Physical problems in early adolescence: a study on early parental loss

International literature underlined that early parental loss represents a potentially traumatic experience, that could expose children to higher risk development, with the onset of psychopathological symptoms. In particular, empirical research has widely confirmed that childhood parental loss is a crucial risk factor for the adolescent’s onset and maintaining of both internalizing and externalizing psychopathological difficulties. Furthermore, early parental loss was correlated with physical illness in adolescence, but few attention was given to the mechanism underpinning. The present longitudinal study aims to better understand the link between parental death in infancy and physical illness during adolescence, considering the role played by youths’ and surviving parents’ psychological profiles.