Miscarriage: A Special Type of Family Crisis

Miscarriage is generally overlooked as a potentially disruptive stressor event. Little research has been done to identify its general magnitude of disruption or the speed of individual recovery. One hundred two randomly selected Midwestern women were surveyed about their experience with miscarriage. It was found that family resource variables were a much stronger predictor of level of crisis and recovery than were personal or community resource variables. Specifically, adaptation and cohesion were significant in predicting speed of recovery and level of crisis, respectively. Additionally, suggestions were made about dealing with miscarriage before, during, and after it occurs.