A comparison of retrospective accounts of childhood near-death experiences with contemporary pediatric near-death experience accounts
Journal of Near-Death Studies June 1, 1991 DOI: 10.1007/bf01073448 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Comparative content analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 10 |
| Population | Adults retrospectively reporting childhood near-death experiences (n=5) and minors reporting near-death experiences (n=5) |
| Measures | Ring's five NDE stages, Greyson's four NDE components, Moody and Perry's 12 NDE traits, Sabom's 16 general characteristics, Gallup and Proctor's 10 basic positive experiences |
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Key points | Across 47 near-death experience characteristics drawn from five frameworks, only two items, both related to time sense, differed significantly between adults' retrospective reports of childhood NDEs and children's contemporary reports, a count the author says would be expected by chance. The author argues this supports prior claims that adults' retrospective accounts of childhood NDEs are not embellished or distorted. |
Abstract
I compared five childhood near-death experiences (NDEs) reported by adults and another five NDEs reported by minors, in terms of Ring's five NDE stages, Greyson's four NDE components, Moody and Perry's 12 NDE traits, Sabom's 16 general characteristics, and Gallup and Proctor's 10 basic positive experiences. In this combined pool of 47 NDE characteristics (which were interdependent), only two relating to time sense showed significant differences between the adults' retrospective reports of childhood NDEs and the children's contemporary NDE reports, and that number of differences would be expected by chance. This study therefore supports the claims of previous researchers that adults' retrospective reports of childhood NDEs are not embellished or distorted.