Death anxiety and comfort in teaching about death among preschool teachers

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Abstract
This study examined 96 women early childhood educators' death anxiety and their comfort in discussing death with preschool children. Ninety percent believed it was important to be able to discuss death with young children, but only 32 percent felt prepared to do so. liachers' death anxiety scores were significantly correlated with comfort with dealing with death in the classroom (R = .30). Death anxiety was significantly related to teachers' training in children's understanding of death. No other academic or personal experience factors were significantly related to death anxiety or comfort. However, there was an overall pattern for anxiety and comfort scores to be higher for subjects with the greatest academic and personal experiences in death and dying. Suggestions for teacher education and future investigations are presented.