OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying· 2026Q2
From Taboo to Resilience: Redefining Children’s Concept of Death to Mitigate Future Anxiety
- 0citations
- Q2SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Direct, warm communication about death, including biological and spiritual explanations, empowers children and reduces future anxiety, contrary to protective silence.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Protective silence around death in families and schools can inadvertently foster latent anxiety in children.
- Young children possess the cognitive capacity to understand basic components of death, such as finality and irreversibility.
- Developing a healthy concept of death requires combining cognitive readiness with a warm emotional climate and structured communication.
- Adults can empower children and reduce death-related anxiety through direct language, biological explanations, spiritual context acknowledgment, and experiential tools.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Death, despite its universality, remains a taboo subject in many families and educational settings. Avoidance is often driven by a desire to protect children from emotional distress, yet evidence suggests that protective silence fosters latent anxiety. Developmental psychology demonstrates that young children possess the cognitive capacity to comprehend foundational components of death, such as finality and irreversibility. This paper argues that cognitive readiness must be paired with a warm emotional climate and structured communication to develop a healthy concept of death. We propose evidence-based guidelines for adults—including the use of direct language, biological explanations, acknowledgment of spiritual contexts, and experiential tools—to empower children and mitigate future death-related anxiety.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Social Psychology
Social PsychologyPsychology