In a six-year study of New York City families with an HIV-positive parent, researchers found that teenagers whose parent died during the study were at greater risk of emotional distress and run-ins with police before their parent’s deaths - but not after.

“This really points to the importance of helping families after HIV diagnosis, not just after a parent’s death,” Dr. Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus, the lead researcher on the study, told Reuters Health.

She and her colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, report the findings in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

The study involved 272 HIV-positive parents and their teenage children, about half of whom had taken part in a support program designed to help families deal with the stress of living with HIV. In earlier research, Rotheram-Borus and her colleagues had found that the program helped ease both parents’ and children’s emotional distress, and that teens in the program were less likely than their peers to use drugs, leave school or have behavioral problems.

These latest findings show that families need such support services well before a parent dies, according to Rotheram-Borus. However, she said, while HIV support services in the U.S. are available to individuals, there’s a lack of programs for whole families.

Among the more than 400 teenagers the UCLA researchers followed, half lost a parent - usually their mother, at an average age of 38 - during the study period. More than a year before their parent’s death, these teens were more likely than their peers to have feelings of isolation, fear, anger and depression.

Unexpectedly, however, these problems - as measured by standard screening tests - waned in the year after a parent’s death, so that the teens’ distress was no greater than that of their peers whose parents were still alive.

There was a similar pattern when it came to rates of arrests and convictions for crime, which were higher among bereaved teenagers before their parent died, but not after.

The higher depression rates among teenagers who lost a parent did persist, but even those symptoms faded within a year, Rotheram-Borus said.

Often, she noted, the toughest times for children who survive their parents - due to any illness - come during a “life milestone,” such as high school graduation or a wedding.

If HIV support services for families become more widespread, the hope, according to Rotheram-Borus, would be to offer “drop-in” programs where family members could seek help at times they feel they need it.

SOURCE: Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, April 2005.