Children's Death Concepts: Relationship to Cognitive Functioning, Age, Experience With Death, Fear of Death, and Hopelessness

Administered demographic questions, the fear of death subscale of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC), the Hopelessness Scale for Children (HSC), three Piagetian conservation tasks, and the Questionnaire for the Examination of Human and Animal Death (QEHAD) to 42 children ranging in age from 6-12 years old. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the best predictors of death concepts were cognitive level (positive correlation) and past experience with death (negative correlation). Fear of death but not hopelessness was also significantly correlated with death concepts. Coping strategies for helping children deal with death need to reflect their cognitive level and past experience, not just their age. Providing euphemistic explanations of death may not be helpful.