There will be many differences because they are unique people with diverse backgrounds, conditionings, and experiences - all of which influence the grief response. There may be communication impairments, and the sexual relationship can be compromised for several years. In terms of the family system, parents with other surviving children are trying to relinquish the role with the deceased child that they are continuing with the surviving children. They may perceive themselves to have parenting deficiencies because of their grief. There may be resentment that surviving children's responses are not what they feel they should be, or fear that their relationships with their surviving children will be less intense.
Bereaved parents represent the worst fear of other adults.
Consequently, they can often experience rejection and social disfranchisement. This is complicated by many in the mental health field who do not appreciate that parental bereavement is an exception to the general conceptualizations of grief and mourning. Each of the processes that are necessary to successfully accommodate a loss can be compromised by the dynamics of the loss of a child. Nevertheless, it is untrue to construe parental bereavement as inevitably leading to pathology or divorce. Bereavement parents can and do survive.