Research on the development of the concept of death in children and its influencing factors.

Abstract

In this study, 114 Chinese children aged 5-6 years old in Henan Province and 114 mothers were selected as research subjects, 59 boys, 55 girls, and 114 mothers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with children to test the development of the concept of death in children. At the same time, a questionnaire survey was conducted among the children's mothers to analyze the influencing factors of the development of children's concept of death. The results of the study showed that children aged 5-6 years had the concept of death, and the sub-components were acquired in a certain order, but the development was not balanced, the overall level of development of the concept of death is slightly higher in girls than in boys; "Whether or not the family talked openly about the topic of death" had a significant effect on the sub-component of the children's concept of death, "Universality of death" (β = -0.301, t = -2.007, p < 0.05) and "causality of death" (β = 0.315, t = 2.582, p < 0.05); and "whether or not there was the experience of exposure to death-related events" had a significant effect on "Irreversibility of death" (β = -0.326, t = -2.36, p < 0.05); Mothers' natural acceptance of death (β = -0.293, t = -2.209, p < 0.05) and convergence-orientated acceptance (β = 0.415, t = 2.315, p < 0.05) had significant effects on the "inorganicity of death" of children's concept of death.