Children’s understanding of death has been a topic of interest to researchers investigating the development of children’s thinking and clinicians focusing on how children cope with the death of a loved one. Traditionally, researchers in cognitive development have studied death from a biological perspective. Current research suggests that exploring religious and spiritual conceptualizations might enrich our understanding of how children come to think about death. In this article, we review different methodological approaches that suggest that children form their understanding of death by engaging in conversations with and asking questions of family members, consuming cultural products, and participating in cultural rituals. We provide examples of how children combine different belief systems to form their understanding of death. We conclude by discussing recent research on how death‐related socialization might be related to coping and bereavement after the death of a loved one.

中文翻译：

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儿童对死亡的新兴理解

儿童对死亡的理解一直是研究儿童思维发展的研究人员和临床医生关注的主题，他们的研究重点是儿童如何应对亲人的死亡。传统上，认知发展的研究人员从生物学的角度研究死亡。当前的研究表明，探索宗教和精神概念化可能会丰富我们对儿童如何思考死亡的理解。在本文中，我们回顾了不同的方法论方法，这些方法建议儿童通过与家庭成员进行对话和提问，消费文化产品以及参加文化仪式来形成对死亡的理解。我们提供了一些示例，说明儿童如何结合不同的信仰系统来形成对死亡的理解。