This study examined the development of children's reasoning about the afterlife and its relationship with parental afterlife beliefs and testimony. A total of 123 children aged 5, 7, and 10 years were read a story describing the events that led to a person's death. After hearing the story, children were asked questions about the dead agent's…

In order to provide the best support possible to grieving youth it is important to understand how bereavement impacts adolescent development and how adolescent development impacts bereavement. In this article, prominent youth bereavement author, David Balk, explores these two key components focusing on cognitive, behavioral, and affective…

According to Terror Management Theory as applied to ageism, older adults may be associated with mortality, thereby generating death-thought accessibility, stereotypes, and mixed emotions among younger adults. However, it is unclear how older adults' health conditions, such as dementia, affect ageist attitudes and mortality salience. In the current…

The purpose of this article is to explore how and why younger Internet users of social networking platforms such as MySpace and Facebook maintain connections with those who have died or been killed. This article, therefore, examines the blurring or blending of interpersonal communication and mass communication via the web as what once was very…

8.6% suicidal ideation (SI) was found among 349 urban 6-9 year olds in the top tercile of aggressive-disruptive behavior. SI was associated with more self-reported depression, ODD, conduct problems, and ADHD symptoms (ES 0.70-0.97) and 3.5-5 times more clinically significant symptoms. Parents rated more symptoms in older children associated with…

This study administered an open-ended questionnaire about death and the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (MODS) to explore the relationships between personal constructs about death and fears of death among Taiwanese adolescents. The sample included 329 adolescents in junior and senior high school grades 7 to 12. A coding manual was used to…

Explores questions related to children's experience with death. Areas discussed are: (1) adult response to the child; (2) issues raised; (3) behavior reactions; (4) developmental influences on response; and (5) adult reactions. Guidelines are given to aid the adult in handling a child's reaction to death. (Author/SDH)

Compared parents (N=40) whose adult children died in traffic accidents to parents (N=24) whose adult children died of cancer. Cancer parents tended to experience loss less painfully than did accident parents. Differences between groups were explained by older age of children at death and less intense expression of grief. Circumstances of death…

The purpose of this article is to guide parents, guardians, and teachers, who wish to utilize the therapeutic qualities of literature, in aiding a grieving child. In a child's first decade of life, the first experience he or she has with death often is the very distressing loss of a beloved pet. This first introduction to the cycle of living and…

Content analysis in the manner of M. H. Nagy's 1948 study was used to explore facets of children's thoughts and feelings about death. Participants were 316 children aged 3-12 who resided in the Sydney Metropolitan Area. Subjects expressed their views on death in talking, writing, and drawing. It was found that all children progressed through three…

Examined reactions of 38 older women to death of close friends. Sense of loss women felt resulted in development of new and closer relationships with other friends and relatives. Women's advice to others who had lost close friend was to remember friend, seek out new friendships, and be active. Found differences according to age, marital status,…

The study explores development of the concept of death among 204 Chinese children and adolescents and analyzes the relationships between death concept development and background variables. A coding manual for content analysis of death constructs adapted from R. A. Neimeyer et al. (1983) was used to classify each construct in the paragraphs written…

Health professionals and educators should develop their abilities to educate about death and to comfort the bereaved. Due to lower death rates, the lack of philosophical religious views, and distorted perceptions of death contributed by television, death has become a mystery instead of a segment of the common experience. Particularly when a child…

Based on the premise that health care providers and institutions have a professional obligation to help bereaved families, this booklet focuses on the role of health care professionals in lessening distress, helping prevent pathological outcomes, and assisting the bereaved toward a satisfactory outcome. The information provided in this guide is…

Proposes children develop an understanding about death in an orderly sequence progressing from total unawareness in early childhood to the point of logical consideration in terms of cause and effect. Discusses implications for parents, teachers, and counselors for helping children deal with death. (RC)