Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate how children's thinking about death varies between ages 3 and 13. Individual interviews consisting of nine questions took place with 205 children. As was predicted, all age groups viewed death as something bad. As to age-related variation, preschool children did not understand the meaning of death in the same way as do adults. Neither could they differentiate between actual death and "make-believe" death, and preschoolers did not believe that they would eventually die. School-age children had a more mature concept of death, characterized by universality, non-functionality and irreversibility. This understanding apparently leads to the development of images, hopes and desires for a world after death. Children 6-years-old and above also exhibited concepts related to reincarnation.
