Childhood Conceptions of Death and Suicide (IN: Suicide Prevention: a Holistic Approach, edited by D De Leo, A Schmidtke, & R F W Diekstra)

This paper addresses the following questions: when do children begin to form an understanding about suicide? what do they know & think about suicide at different stages of development? how do their conceptions of suicide develop & change? how do children learn about suicide? & what are the implications of children’s understanding of suicide for suicide prevention? Several studies which have explored childrens’ conceptions of death & suicide are briefly discussed. It is concluded that children, particularly by the age of 8, understand what suicide is & can talk about it in an interview, including explaining why people kill themselves. (21 refs.)