Child loss and parental depression in Indonesia: Evidence from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS)

The death of a child is one of the most traumatic life events and can lead to long-term depression in parents. Using data from the 2014 Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS-5), this study quantitatively examined the effect of child death on depressive symptoms among 1,735 respondents. Depression was measured using the 10-item CES-D, and analyses were performed with OLS regression. The initial results without control variables revealed that child death was not significantly related to depression (R² = 0.001). After the control variables were included, child death showed a significant but weak association with depressive symptoms (B = 0.586; p = 0.033). The final model explained 5.6% of the variance in depressive symptoms (F(4.730) = 25.420; p < 0.001). Age and subjective wealth appeared to be protective factors, whereas education did not have a significant effect. These findings indicate that despite the relatively weak association, parents who experience child loss still show psychological vulnerability, necessitating accessible and culturally sensitive bereavement support services.