Childhood views of death

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of concepts of death held by children of different ages, from 2 through 16, and to investigate whether these concepts were influenced by such variables as sex, level of parental education, or degree of religious influence within the family. Specific attention was directed toward investigation of the themes of finality of death, inevitability of death, and acknowledgment of death as a personal event. Individual interviews were conducted with 120 children. The interviews were then rated independently by two judges, according to a 5-point rating scale for each of the three concept themes. A four-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the ratings in terms of the independent classification variables. Age was the only variable found to be significant. The results of the study indicated that, although children do differ in their concepts of death along an age continuum, the greatest change appears to occur about the time when they enter school, that is, at ages 5 to 7. It is at that time when they begin to demonstrate concepts that are similar to those held by older children, exhibiting less magical thinking and a greater reliance on biological and social reality. A second key change appears to occur in the mid-teen-age years, when the concepts expressed appear to become more abstract on the one hand and more personally real on the other hand.

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