A phenomenographic approach to the meaning of death: a Chinese perspective

The purpose of this study was to investigate qualitative and quantitative differences in Chinese children's concepts of death, as reflected in their drawings, and to analyze this conceptual development as it related to background variables (such as gender, age, religious belief, and heath status). Participants were 239 children in 6 grade groups recruited from primary and junior high school. The children were asked to draw their impression of the word "death" and to give a verbal commentary of what they had drawn. The drawings were analyzed according to a phenomenographic method and assigned to one of 3 superordinate and 12 subordinate qualitative categories, adapted from M. E.Tamm and A. Granqvist (1995). Metaphysical and biological death concepts dominated, while psychological death concepts were depicted least. Consistent with previous studies of the development of concepts of death in children, biological death concepts were most common for the younger age groups, and metaphysical death concepts were found predominately in the older age groups. Chi-square analysis revealed no significant differences among death concept categories as a function of the participants' gender, health status, religious belief, funeral attendance, or prior death of relatives or pets. The results are interpreted as providing a unique window on death concepts among Chinese children.