The authors studied the effect of parent loss during the first 18 years
of life and its interactions with family size and sibling order in a
nonpsychiatric population of 247 men. Groups defined by loss type, family
size, and sibling order were compared using MMPI scale scores. The results
strongly suggest that parent loss and family size and their interaction
have an important impact on adult personality traits as measured by MMPI
scores. The strong adverse impact of intermittent loss and temporary loss
in large families (much greater than that of permanent loss) is a crucial
finding not previously noted in the literature.
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