Filial Reconstruction: A Theory of Development through Adversity

Abstract

The grounded theory investigation reported in this article was directed toward explicating the grieving process in the parents of gay men dying from AIDS. The participants, 64 biological parents, described the phenomena. Six of their gay sons were also interviewed. Participant observation of parents and sons in support groups, in social interactions, and in the course of volunteer hospice contacts occurred over a 4-and-one-half-year period. In the closure process, those parents who closed unconditionally with their sons proceeded through a process of transcendence to filial reconstruction. This state or condition provided psychological and spiritual or moral freedom for the dying person and prepared his parents to enter an uncomplicated grieving process after his death. Only families in the sample closed the chapter in an unconditional manner.