Table 3.
Descriptive analysis of the EsCoMu scale items for each age group.
| Correct Answer (%) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item | Content | 6–7 Years (n = 34) |
8–9 Years (n = 96) |
10–11 Years (n = 198) |
12–13 Years (n = 38) |
| U1 | Do you think that your grandparents will die someday? | 85.3 | 92.7 | 96.8 | 81.6 |
| U2 * | Can a mum live forever? | 88.2 | 93.7 | 98.4 | 81.0 |
| U3 | Can you die? | 81.3 | 93.7 | 94.7 | 86.8 |
| U4 * | Are there living beings that do not die? | 69.7 | 88.5 | 90.4 | 84.2 |
| U5 | Do all people die? | 79.4 | 89.6 | 98.4 | 92.1 |
| U6 | Do you think that a very good person can die? | 64.7 | 86.2 | 95.8 | 86.5 |
| IR1 * | If we die, can someone wake us up? | 76.5 | 84.2 | 96.8 | 86.8 |
| IR2 * | Can a dead animal come back to life? | 72.7 | 94.6 | 96.3 | 86.8 |
| IR3 * | If someone close to you died, could they come back to life? | 78.8 | 88.4 | 93.0 | 83.8 |
| IR4 * | If a child died, could they live again? | 73.5 | 91.5 | 92.6 | 78.9 |
| IR5 * | Can a dead person come back to life if you really want it? | 85.3 | 90.4 | 96.3 | 91.9 |
| IR6 * | Can a dead person come back to life? | 82.4 | 96.2 | 87.7 | 92.1 |
| IR7 * | After dying, do you think that it is possible to come back to life? | 85.3 | 87.1 | 86.1 | 78.9 |
| NF1 * | When someone dies, can they feel cold? | 81.8 | 74.0 | 72.6 | 65.8 |
| NF2 * | Do animals feel hunger or thirst when they are dead? | 82.4 | 90.5 | 96.3 | 92.1 |
| NF3 * | Can a dead person move? | 70.6 | 89.6 | 93.1 | 97.4 |
| NF4 * | Does a dead person keep breathing? | 87.9 | 93.7 | 98.4 | 94.7 |
| NF5 | When someone dies, does their body stop working? | 70.6 | 89.2 | 91.0 | 92.1 |
| NF6 * | When an animal dies, do they still want to play? | 75.8 | 91.6 | 96.8 | 81.6 |
| NF7 * | Can a dead person hear or feel? | 76.5 | 81.9 | 87.2 | 91.9 |
| C1 | Can a person kill themselves? | 79.4 | 93.6 | 98.9 | 86.8 |
| C2 | Can people die of hunger or thirst? | 67.6 | 85.1 | 87.8 | 86.5 |
| C3 | Can a person die from falling off a high place? | 91.2 | 94.8 | 97.4 | 97.2 |
| C4 * | Can someone be killed by the force of imagination? | 68.8 | 86.3 | 84.5 | 83.8 |
| C5 | Can a person die from being very old? | 81.8 | 86.5 | 97.3 | 91.9 |
| C6 | Can people die after suffering an illness for a long time? | 93.9 | 98.9 | 98.9 | 97.3 |
| C7 | Can a person die if they have a serious accident? | 97.1 | 97.9 | 96.8 | 94.7 |
* Reverse items, U = Universality, IR = Irreversibility, NF = Non-Functionality, C = Causality.