The Development of the Concept of Death in Childhood: A Review of the Literature.

Abstract

Despite considerable variability in research findings, a pattern of development is apparent which suggests children tend to move from conceptualizing death as a temporary and reversible state, like sleep or a separation, to an internal and uni versal biological process. Many factors have been implicated as contributing to the development of the concept of death (e.g., death experiences, religious training, life circumstances, cognitive development, emotional development, education, mass media, and the more general sociocultural influences). Little re search, however, has been devoted to the systematic evaluation of these vari ables. Problems concerning the adequacy of the measurement instruments em ployed (i.e., their reliability and validity), and the exclusive use of cross-sectional data collection techniques are discussed. Future researchers must address these problems to clarify the developmental scheme for the concept of death.

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