Australian Children's Thinking about Death: A Sydney-Based Study. Selected Papers Number 49.

Content analysis in the manner of M. H. Nagy's 1948 study was used to explore facets of children's thoughts and feelings about death. Participants were 316 children aged 3-12 who resided in the Sydney Metropolitan Area. Subjects expressed their views on death in talking, writing, and drawing. It was found that all children progressed through three stages of development in attaining a valid concept of death. Children 3 and 4 years of age believed that death is temporary and reversible. The 5-year-olds tended to see more clearly that death meant the end of bodily functions. The expression of the concept of reversibility tended to decrease with age. A significant number of 6- to 8-year-olds understood that death was final but saw it as something that happened only to other people. In contrast, older children rarely used the third person to express their feelings concerning death. Most children 8 through 12 years of age had a realization of death in a personal or irreversible sense. It was further found that children who had come to such a realization freely experienced fear and anxiety about death. Almost half of the children aged 6-12 suffered death anxiety. (RH)