Children Talk about Death

Abstract

Narratives about death produced by children between three-and-one-half and nine-and-one-half years of age were analyzed. Death narratives were almost nonexistent in children under five-and-one-half years of age, but the majority of children who were six or older spontaneously produced narratives about death. Children under nine years of age discuss death as a dramatic event to be told like a television story plot; there is no affective reaction to the deaths of strangers, pets, or relatives. With one exception, only the nine year old children indicated emotional reactions to a death, or their affection for the deceased. This contrast suggests that younger children have difficulty coping with death in emotional terms, and suppress or deny their affective reactions to it. Additionally, three children talked about the death of a parent; none produced narratives with evaluation and affective reactions to these deaths. These children denied the parent's death as well, by talking of the deceased parent as if he or she were still alive in other narratives. The possibility of a “distance phenomenon” in children's ability to cope with death emotionally as the victims become closer to the child is suggested.