Data from an outpatient clinic survey showed that death of a parent during childhood had a different effect on the child depending upon whether the dead parent was of the same sex as the child or of the opposite sex. When the parent of the same sex died (the "oedipal rival"), the patients developed an attitude of guilt blocking expression of oedipal attitudes toward both parents and decreased capacity to function in sex-linked roles. If the parent of the opposite sex died (the "oedipal object"), the patients had an attitude of preference for the dead parent, aversion to the one still alive (the "oedipal rival"), and idealized and unrealistic expectations of their love objects. Gill states that these attitudes interfere with the process of reality testing as applied to oedipal relationships during adolescence, and thus interfere with the resolution of the oedipus complex.