Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Slaughter, V.
Right arrow Articles by Griffiths, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Slaughter, V.
Right arrow Articles by Griffiths, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. 12, No. 4, 525-535 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1359104507080980
© 2007 SAGE Publications

Death Understanding and Fear of Death in Young Children

Virginia Slaughter

University of Queensland, Australia, vps{at}psy.uq.edu.au

Maya Griffiths

University of Queensland, Australia

The purpose of this study was to test whether the developmental acquisition of a mature concept of death, that is, understanding death as a biological event, affects young children's fear of death. Ninety children between the ages of 4 and 8 participated in an interview study in which their understanding of death and their fear of death were both assessed. Levels of general anxiety were also measured via parent report. A regression analysis indicated that more mature death understanding was associated with lower levels of death fear, when age and general anxiety were controlled. These data provide some empirical support for the widely held belief that discussing death and dying in biological terms is the best way to alleviate fear of death in young children.

Key Words: children • death anxiety • death concept • normal fear


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?