The Effects of Age, Object, and Cultural/Religious Background on Children's Concepts of Death

Abstract

Concepts of death were examined in 114 children who comprised three age groups (5, 6–7, 8–9) and two cultural/religious backgrounds (northern Unitarian and southern Baptist). Children's understanding of death was examined for five animate objects (bear, baby, child's mother, experimentor, and the child her/himself) and four inanimate objects (airplane, rock, stuffed bear, and a car). The first step in analysis focused on children's understanding of three general death related concepts: irreversibility, universality, and inevitability. Significant cultural/religious background differences were found for all three concepts, while the effect of age was apparent only in the latter two concepts. The second step in analysis assessed the effect of age. object and background on children's understanding of the causation of death. Understanding of causation was shown to be significantly influenced by all three variables.