An Investigation on 3-6-year-old Chinese Children's Perception of "Death"

Abstract

Because of the taboo in Chinese culture, there is little research on Chinese children’s perception of “death”. The research on preschoolers’ cognition of “death” could deepen our research on children’s cognition process, guide children’s life education, and improve the psychologic intervention on the children who experience such torment at their home. This research, with six variables of death concept, applicability, universality, irrevocability, dysfunctionality, causality, and judgment, investigated 180 3-6-year-old Chinese children’s general perception of “death”, and their cognition of such six sub-concept of “death”. The experiment results demonstrated the status of Chinese children’s cognition of “death”. (1) 3-6-year-old children understand “death” more accurately as they grow older. (2) There is no significant difference in the perception of “death” between different gender children. (3) Children who have experiences with pets have more accurate understanding of “death” than those not. (4) Children have unbalanced understanding of six sub-concept of “death”. (5) Children’s perception of “death” is self-centered. On the base of such findings, the author advocates to include “death” education into children’s daily education, and make use of picture books and the experience with pets to help them understand “death” properly