The authors studied 25 middle-class pregnant women and their husbands
who had experienced perinatal losses (16 miscarriages, seven stillbirths,
and two neonatal deaths) within the previous 2 years. The Perinatal
Bereavement Scale was designed to determine whether parents who have
experienced a late perinatal loss (stillbirth or neonatal death) display
more unresolved grief during a subsequent pregnancy and during the
postnatal period than parents who have experienced a miscarriage. A
three-factor repeated measures analysis of variance indicated significantly
greater grief for the late-loss group, for the mothers, and during the
pregnancy preceding the birth of the viable child.Abstract Teaser