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Views of causes, images, and finality of death of 598 children, ages 5 to 18 years, were obtained by structured interview at church schools and clinic. The "why" of death was most affected by socioeconomic status; death as due to violence was seen most often by clinic children. The idea of what happens to the body after death was rarely terrifying, but more realism was tolerated for pets than for self. By ages 13 to 16, 20% still thought that when dead they would be cognizant, 60% envisioned spiritual continuation, and 20% saw death as total cessation. Those with frequent thoughts of suicide most often denied death as final.Increasing age and religious training extended children's view of the significance of life beyond simple existence, but only one of 598 considered its import to be biosocial immortality.Inquiry into the child's concept of death is infrequent and has been attributed to our own fears and denial. The classical work on the child's attitudes toward death is still the study by Schilder and Wechsler in 1934 based on interviews of 76 chil¬ dren institutionalized at Bellevue for problems ranging from behavior dis¬ orders to mental retardation to schiz¬ ophrenia.' Since that time, as Wolf¬ enstein and Kliman-have stated, there have been little35 systematic data on the concept of death in chil¬ dren raised in our contemporary so¬ ciety. The socially oriented investiga¬ tions by Anthony6 in England and Nagy7 in Hungary, both done in the 1930s, show significant cultural con¬ trasts.Knowledge of the child's concept of death is meaningful in many areas. It is, first of all, of immediate appli¬ cation, as shown by recent investiga¬ tions," to the supportive care of the dying child. Second, accidents, the

Blood lead (Pb B) was determined in 1232 samples from 831 children in Omaha and correlated with air lead (Pb A) concentrations of 0.02-1.69 microgram/m3 from 1971 to 1977. A bivariate equation for ages 6-18 yr based on these data predicts an increase in Pb B of 1.4 microgram/dl as Pb A increases from 1 to 2 microgram/m3. Pb B increases 7 microgram/dl as the mean values for soil and house dust Pb increase from 100 to 750 microgram/g. Multiple regression analysis shows that the combined effects of air, soil, and house dust Pb account for 21% of the variance of Pb B, with a high intercorrelation of all 3 variables. Since the variance of repeat sampling in individuals accounted for 38% of the total variance of Pb B, approximately 40% is unexplained and requires measurement of Pb from dietary and other sources.

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