The Relationship Between the Death of a Parent or Sibling in Early Childhood and Educational Achievement

The loss of someone close — a parent or sibling — is a shock for everyone, and most certainly for a child. Aside from the grief and distress of the loss, it also has long-lasting implications for the family unit and the human and material resources available to the remaining family members over their years of development. Dr. Yael Navon, Dr. Carmel Blank, Prof. Yossi Shavit, and Prof. John Gal have conducted a unique study examining the effects of a death of a nuclear family member during the early childhood of the remaining children in the family on their future academic achievements and the differences in effect of the death of a parent or of the death of a sibling.

The research is based on a database of more than one million native Israelis born between 1985 and 1998. Almost 2% — about 16,000 children — lost a parent or sibling in their early childhood. In other words, the loss of a parent of sibling in early childhood is not as rare as one might have thought.

The analysis focused on qualifying for a bagrut (matriculation) certificate because it constitutes a condition for acceptance into academic studies in Israel, and, therefore, it can be assumed that a lower likelihood of eligibility for a bagrut certificate will, in turn, reduce the chance of attaining an academic degree, as well as the chance of finding a high-paying job in the future. In the long term, social and economic disparities are liable to emerge between individuals who experience such a loss in early childhood and their peers.

The research findings show that children who experience loss in early childhood (from ages 1 to 6) have a lower likelihood of qualifying for a bagrut certificate than other children. Furthermore, the study indicates that there is no statistically significant difference between the loss of a parent and the loss of a sibling. This finding is somewhat surprising considering the central role of a parent in early childhood and the fact that it often impacts children in terms of the availability of financial resources as well as parental availability, attention, and guidance.

Social policies supporting families who have experienced loss

The researchers explain that the social welfare system’s policies prioritize assistance to families who have experienced military bereavement over those who have experienced civilian bereavement, and also provide far more assistance following the loss of a parent than following the loss of a sibling. The main assistance to a family that has lost one of its members while in the military or in a terror attack is provided to the spouse of the deceased or to their parents.

The assistance is provided by regional assistance centers and the Centers for Marriage and Family Therapy and is almost entirely financed by the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs. In locations where there is no center, the family is referred to private therapists under the Ministry’s financing. Individuals who have lost a sibling in these circumstances are eligible for some assistance, such as subsidies for tuition in higher education and psychological support at various levels.

In contrast, a bereaved family that has lost a parent or child due to reasons such as illness or accident is not eligible for assistance from the regional centers and essentially is not eligible for therapy of this type. These families can obtain therapy in the Centers for Marriage and Family Therapy, but they do not receive any discount and the service is subject to manpower and resource constraints. The therapy provided to these families also differentiates been a sibling and a parent, primarily with respect to the services provided through the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs.

The study findings show the need to widen assistance offered in cases of civilian bereavement to be similar to those given to family members experiencing military bereavement. In addition, service needs to be widened to include bereaved siblings, in particular in their early childhood, to help narrow gaps that are likely to follow the death of a sibling at this especially vulnerable time.

In memory of Danielle Granot Blank,
aged five and a half at the time of her death,
who was the inspiration for this research