Children??s Conceptions of Death

Lonetto, Richard

doi:10.1097/00005721-198107000-00021

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Later in development, with increasing cognitive complexity, the child eventually becomes self‐aware. With the emergence of self‐awareness, the physically weak and defenseless child has a mature understanding of the concept of death as biological, universal, and inevitable (Lonetto, 1980; Speece & Brent, 1996). The child now has the capacity to imagine potential threats around every corner and lethal threats that have yet to happen.…”

Section: A Terror Management Analysis Of the Need For Self‐esteemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐Esteem: A Human Solution to the Problem of Death

Schimel

Landau

Hayes

2008

Social & Personality Psych

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Terror management theory (TMT) posits that the need for self‐esteem develops out of the socialization process in which children learn to abide by parental and, eventually, societal standards of ‘goodness’ to feel securely embedded in a cultural belief system. According to TMT, feeling safely immersed in a meaningful conception of reality (i.e., the cultural worldview) ultimately functions to protect people from anxiety due to the uniquely human capacity to be cognizant of their eventual death. After presenting the basic tenets of this perspective, we review several lines of research supporting it and then address some common questions and criticisms of the theory such as how is a TMT view of anxiety consistent with evolutionary principles, why do people commit suicide, and how is self‐esteem pursued in non‐Western, self‐effacing cultures? Finally, we discuss some implications of TMT for understanding social problems and for pursuing meaning and self‐esteem in healthier, more socially productive ways.

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Section: A Terror Management Analysis Of the Need For Self‐esteemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐Esteem: A Human Solution to the Problem of Death

Schimel

Landau

Hayes

2008

Social & Personality Psych

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“…To adults, death embraces the personal, social, physical, and spiritual. Research with children, however, has primarily explored how children spontaneously characterize death in their comments, stories, play, and drawings (e.g., Lonetto, 1980;Nagy, 1948), or what children understand about the implications of death to our physical selves (e.g., what happens after we die, what changes with death, what can die). Emphasis has been upon how similar children's concepts are to those of adults, that is, how mature their concepts of death are.…”

Section: Defining the Understanding Of Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current Research in Children's Conceptions of Death: A Critical Review

Kenyon

2001

Omega (Westport)

103

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After almost 60 years of research, how children come to understand death and what factors contribute to this development continue to generate interest. This paper critically reviews published research since the early 1980s, with a specific focus on the development of components of the death concept in children. Studies are reviewed with respect to the effects of age, cognitive development, type of object inquired about, culture and SES, experience with death, and emotional factors on the development of children's understanding of death. While these studies indicate that by 10 years of age most children have mastered the components of irreversibility, universality, non-functionality, personal mortality, and causality, acquisition of individual components appears to be differentially affected by several factors. Cognitive development, verbal ability, and cultural and religious experiences appear to influence the acquisition of abstract components such as universality. Direct experience appears to affect the acquisition of physically-based components, such as non-functionality and irreversibility. In addition, the components appear to have different developmental trajectories. Emotional factors appear to play a significant role in how children respond to questions about death and might be highly influential in the development of their understanding of death. Directions for future research are presented with attention to theoretical issues and the ongoing methodological problems in the study of children's conceptions of death.

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“…Prepubertal children (10-to 12-year-olds) become more realistic about the inescapability of death and the concept of a soul. Thus, children of this age are more able to grasp the concept that even though the deceased's body is buried, the spirit of that person may live on in heaven or in living people's hearts (Lonetto, 1980). Although these children are more able to grasp rational explanations of causality, they may still have some remnants of magical thinking; that is, they may believe that their actions or words may have contributed to the death in some manner.…”

Section: Key Points Of the Research Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood Traumatic Grief

Cohen

Mannarino

Greenberg

et al. 2002

Trauma, Violence, & Abuse

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Childhood traumatic grief refers to a condition in which characteristic traumarelated symptoms interfere with children's ability to adequately mourn the loss of a loved one. Current concepts of this condition suggest that it overlaps with but is distinct from uncomplicated bereavement, adult complicated grief, and posttraumatic stress disorder. This article describes the core features of childhood traumatic grief; differentiates it from these related conditions; and reviews the current research status of suggested diagnostic criteria, assessment instruments, and treatments for this condition. Implications for future clinical practice, research, and policy are also addressed.

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Children??s Conceptions of Death

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Self‐Esteem: A Human Solution to the Problem of Death

Self‐Esteem: A Human Solution to the Problem of Death

Current Research in Children's Conceptions of Death: A Critical Review

Childhood Traumatic Grief

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