Losing a parent in adulthood not only breaks your heart, but can put a sizable dent in your bank account, a new study says. Adults' earning power persistently declines following the death of a parent, researchers report in the American Economic Review.
The mental turmoil of bereavement likely explains much of this financial loss, researchers said.
"Losing a parent is one of the most personal and painful experiences many of us will go through," said lead researcher Mathias Fjaellegaard Jensen, a senior research fellow at the University of Oxford in the U.K.
"What this study shows is that the effects of bereavement can reach into other parts of life for years afterwards, including people's working lives, through mental health and family support," Jensen said in a news release.
For the new study, researchers tracked more than 734,000 adults in Denmark, of whom 91% first lost a parent at age 19 or older. The administrative data on these people also included info about their earnings, employment and mental health.
