ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the pattern of grief in children and how it differs from adult grief. Several months or even years’ later children and adolescents may ask more questions about the person that died and voice their anxieties and concerns. Children grieve for different reasons because their grief is directed at the losses of the many roles that were fulfilled by a deceased parent or sibling. Chronological age is one major factor that is frequently used to determine children's understanding of death and their pattern of grief. It should not be assumed that a child's or adolescent's level or emotional maturity can be equated with his or her level of physical development and/or cognitive ability. Personality and emotional maturity combine with age, developmental level, and cognition to influence the way in which children and adolescents react to the death of someone close.
