The acquisition of a mature understanding of three components of the concept of death

This study focuses on the acquisition of three key components of a mature concept of death: universality, irreversibility, and nonfunctionality. Ninety-one children, grades K-3, were interviewed individually using a structured interview. Although a majority of children from kindergarten on understood each component, less than half achieved a mature understanding of all three components. This suggests that the process of achieving such an understanding continues at least through age 10. Statistical analysis indicated that universality is understood before either irreversibility or nonfunctionality (sequential acquisition), and that irreversibility and nonfunctionality are understood at about the same time (concurrent acquisition). The theoretical issues involved in empirically differentiating concurrent and sequential acquisition and a measurement model for making that discrimination are discussed.