Children's Perception of Death and Interpersonal Closeness to the Dead Person

Abstract

Fifty-four boys and girls of three age groups: six to seven, eight to nine, and ten to eleven, participated in an investigation of the relationship between the comprehension of death and the degree of interpersonal closeness to the dead person. The children responded to a death concept questionnaire tapping their understanding of the deaths of a “brother,” a “cousin,” and “Johnny”—an unfamiliar child. A 3 × 3 ANOVA showed an age × person interaction. While first- and fifty-graders perceived the death of a person to whom they were close on an interpersonal basis less accurately (lower score) than the death of a person of a more distant relationship, no such distinctions were made by the third-graders. In addition, there was a main effect of person and of age. A significant correlation was found between interpersonal distance and death concept scores. The findings were discussed in light of children's emotional development and the way in which they comprehend and process emotionally loaded concepts.