This study inquires whether terror management mechanisms depend on the development of the concept of death. Children aged 7 and 11 years (N = 104) were exposed to death salient or non-salient conditions and asked to rate their acceptance of in-group and out-group children. Death salience was manipulated by asking children to answer the Death Concept Scale before or after rating target stimuli. Children also answered a self-esteem scale, and their mothers completed a dogmatism scale. Death salience led to more acceptance of an in-group child and more rejection of an out-group child only among 11-year-old children. Among 7-year-old children, this manipulation led to a rejection of both in-group and out-group children. At both ages, these effects were mainly found among low self-esteem children and among children whose mothers scored high on the dogmatism scale. Results were discussed in the framework of terror management theory.
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