The child's concept of age and aging

One-hundred-and-eighty children (preschool-sixth grade) were given an instrument designed to assess their concepts of age and aging. The results support the hypothesis that children follow a Piagetian cognitive-developmental sequence in their ability to understand age concepts. Additional support is found in the high association between children's responses on the Concept of Age instrument and level of reasoning exhibited on conservation tasks. Since age concepts remain difficult even for upper-elementary children, the study leads to the practical conclusion that education, in the increasingly important field of aging, must be designed to follow a cognitive-developmental sequence, and to take into account the reasoning patterns of children of various ages.