Parentally bereaved children's cognitive understanding of death: Individual and contextual factors.

Abstract

Thirty-seven parentally bereaved youngsters and their surviving parents were interviewed and administered standardized questionnaires to explore post-death family experiences and beliefs, as well as to assess the relations among individual characteristics, funeral experiences, and religious beliefs on children's cognitive understanding of death. The findings suggest that, regarding adjustment, what is normative in bereaved families in the early years after the death may differ significantly from what is normal in the general population. Further, virtually all of the children were found to have been included in funeral activities and rituals, irrespective of their age at the time of death. The overwhelming majority of these bereaved youngsters sought some form of contact with the body of their deceased parent during the services. Overall, surviving parents and children were found to share with one another many strongly held beliefs about the possibility of the continued existence of the deceased in an afterlife. Regarding the relations between these factors and children's understanding of death, few significant associations were observed.