Mourning processes in children of varying ages.

Abstract

This study appears to support the idea that the patterns of children's mourning are determined by age and developmental stage. Although the criterion group is an unusual one, it is interesting that the number of previous placements did not significantly alter the mourning response. This impression is in part supported by the similarity between the responses of these children to death as compared with those of a group of ‘normal’ children to the death of a school teacher (5). In addition the age differences in notions about death are similar to those found by other investigators (4, 6). Finally, one is impressed by the plasticity of children, as evidenced by the rapid (eight weeks) adaptation to a very striking and threatening event. In effect it seems most likely that mourning and depressive processes in children — as with aggressive and other affectual processes — are ultimately determined by a complex interplay of cognitive, interactional and intrapsychic factors, varying not only with maturation but also with previous life experiences. While such a formulation is disturbing in its complexity it also indicates further need for interdisciplinary research.