“Lahat Po Tayo ay may Katapusan”: The Concepts of Death Among Filipino Children
Main Article Content
Keywords
Causality, Finality, Irreversibilit, Universality, education
Abstract
This study aimed at exploring of the concepts of irreversibility, universality, finality, causality of death and Filipino children's other concepts of death. It involved 30 children, ages 7–11. Findings show that the development of concept of death among Filipino children is not a single construct and requires understanding of the different concepts of irreversibility, universality, finality and causality of death. Grasping these concepts requires understanding of non-corporeal continuation, dys-functionality, all-inclusiveness, unpredictability, inevitability, immobility, and insensitivity. Children understand that sickness, tragedy, accidents and personal conflicts are conditions that really do or can bring about the death of a living thing. Filipino children's other concept of death lies in their belief in the divine providence (pagpapasa-Diyos) and old age. The concepts of death among Filipino children is regarded as either concrete or abstract and goes on evolving towards maturity through socialization, personal experiences and children's observation in the environment.
References
Brent, S.B., Speece, M.W., Lin, C., Dong, Q., & Yang, C. (1994). The development of the concept of death among Chinese and U.S. children 3-17 years of age: from binary to “fuzzy” concepts? Manuscript in preparation, Wayne State University.
De Spelder & Strickland. (2005). The Last Dance: Encountering Death and Dying, 7th ed. New York: McGraw Hill
Glass, G.V. (1987). What works: Politics and research. Educational Research, 16(3), 5-10.
Hoffman, S.I., & Strauss, S. (1985). The development of children's concepts of death. Death Studies, 9, 469-482.
Jay, S.M., Green, V., Johnson, S., Caldwell, S., & Nitschke, R. (1987). Differences in death concepts between children with cancer and physically healthy children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 16, 301-306.
Kane, B. (1979). Child's concept of death. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 134, 141-153.
Karpas, R.J. (1986). Concept of death and suicidal behavior in children and adolescents (Doctoral dissertation, Pace University, 1986). Dissertation Abstracts International, 47, 3136B.
Kastenbaum, R. (1967). The child's understanding of death; how does it develop? In. E.A. Grollman (Ed.), Explaining death to children (pp. 89-100). Boston: Beacon Press.
Kastenbaum, R. (1986). Death, Society, and Human Experience. 3rd ed. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merill Publishing Co.
Kastenbaum, R. & Aisenberg, R. (1972). The Psychology of death. NY: Springfi eld Publishing Corp.
Koocher, G.P. (1974). Talking with children about death. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 44, 404-411.
Kosslyn, S. M. & Rosenberg, R. (2003). Fundamentals of Psychology: the brain, the person, the world. USA:Pearson Education, Inc.
Kuster, A. (1973). Anticipatory Grief, death, and bereavement. A Continuum. Hyper & Row Publishers Inc.
Licuanan, P. (1989). Psychology in the Philippines: History and current trends. Issue 2 of Psychological Association of the Philippines module. Ateneo de Manila Press
Moody, R. A. (1975). Life after life. New York: Bantam.
Nagy, M. (1948). The child's theories concerning death. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 73, 3-27.
Ocampo, A.L.P. (2014). Beyond silence and denial: A grief
counseling framework for families. (Doctoral Dissertation. Philippine Normal University, 2014)
Orbach, I., Gross, Y., Glaubman, H., & Berman, D. (1985). Children's perception of death in humans and animals as a function of age, anxiety and cognitive ability. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 26, 453-463.
Orbach, I. (1988). Children who don't want to live. CA: Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers.
Ottenheimer, H. J. (2006). The Anthropology of Language. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Piaget, J. (1954). The construction of reality in the child.
New York: Basic Books.
Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1969). The child's conception of space. New York. Norton.
Sevilla, C.G. (Ed. D.), Ochave, J.A. (Ph. D.), Punzalan, T.G. (Ph. D.), Regala, B.P. (MA), & Ciriarte, G.G. (Ph.D.). (1995). Research Methods Revised Edition. Philippines: Rex Printing Company Inc.
Shaffer, David. (1996). Developmental Psychology: Childhood and adolescence, 4th ed. USA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
Schonfield, S. & Smilansky, S. (1989). A cross cultural comparison of Israeli and American children's death concepts. Death Studies, 13, 593-604.
Schilder, P., & Wechsler, D. (1934).The attitude of children towards death. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 45, 406-451.
Smilansky, S. (1981). Children's perception of death. Haifa: Ach Company (Hebrew).
Smilansky, S. (1987). On death: Helping children understand and cope. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Smilansky, S. & Weissman, T. (1978). A Guide for Rehabilitation Workers with Orphans of War Casualties and their Mothers. Jerusalem: Henreitta Szold Institute.
Speece, M.W. (1995). Children's Concept of Death. Michigan Family Review. Michigan Publishing, pp. 57-69.
Speece M.W. & Brent, S.B. (1984). Children's Understanding on Death: A Review of the Three Components of Death Concept. Child Development, 55, 1671-1686.
Speece, M. W., & Brent, S. B. (1992). The acquisition of a mature understanding of three components of the concept of death. Death Studies, 16, 211-229.
Speece, M. W., & Brent, S. B. (in press). The development of children's understanding of death. In C.A. Corr and D.M. Corr (Eds.), Helping children cope with death and bereavement. New York: Springer.
Stillion, J. & Wass, H. (1984). Children and death. Death: Current Perspectives, 3rd Ed., USA: Mayfi eld Publishing Co.
Weber, J.A., & Fournier, D.G. (1985). Family support and a child's adjustment to death. Special Issue: The family and health care. Family Relations Journal of Applied Family and Child Studies, 34, 43-49.
Weininger, O. (1979). Young children's concepts of dying and dead. Psychological Reports, 44, 395-407.
Article Sidebar
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.