The relationship between the experience of sibling death from trauma and acquisition of an accurate concept of death

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between the experience of sibling death from trauma and children\u27s acquisition of an accurate concept of death. Concept of death was defined as consisting of finality, universality and inevitability. The order of acquisition of these subconcepts, the effect of experience of sibling death on the process of subconcept acquisition, and contributory effects of demographic variables and developmental level on concept acquisition were explored. The sample consisted of 58 children, aged five to twelve years. The bereaved group, 29 children who had experienced the death of a sibling from trauma between October 1, 1989-December 31, 1990, were interviewed 13-17 months after the death. The comparison group was matched for age, gender, race, and sociodemographic background. A constructivist framework was used. The interview had three parts: a demographic assessment, a developmental assessment based on tasks described by Piaget, and an assessment of the child\u27s concept of death using vignettes. Paired t-tests revealed no statistically significant effect of the experience of sibling death from trauma on acquisition of an accurate concept of death. Multivariate analysis revealed that both developmental level and age were significant independent predictors of concept of death. The contributions of gender, sociodemographics and race were non-significant. Qualitative analysis of the responses to the vignettes revealed a difference in the answers. Bereaved siblings were more likely to use experience to support their beliefs about the subconcepts, whether these beliefs were accurate or inaccurate. Children in the comparison group were more likely to indicate a rote acceptance of fact. The data were also analyzed to determine the age at which children are likely to acquire an accurate concept of death. Almost half (45.67%) of five year olds, and at least 60% of six through eight year olds had an accurate concept of death; 100% of nine, eleven and twelve year olds had an accurate concept of death, and 88.89% of ten year olds had an accurate concept of death. The results indicate that developmental level is the best predictor of concept of death, however, age is also an significant indicator