Age Density, Religiosity and Death Anxiety in Retirement Communities

Duff, Robert W.; Hong, Lawrence K.

doi:10.2307/3512068

Cited by 31 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Many studies in the literature have reported a bidirectional effect of religion on death anxiety, some protective (11, 12, 14, 15), and others the opposite (16, 17). Florian and Kravetz (40) felt that Judaism increased death anxiety, while others reported that Christianity decreases death anxiety (40).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thanatophobia (Death Anxiety) in the Elderly: The Problem of the Child’s Inability to Assess Their Own Parent’s Death Anxiety State

Sinoff

2017

Front. Med.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Thanatophobia is omnipresent in our lives. Research has shown separate but connected constructs: fear of death or fear of the dying process. The influences on death anxiety are varied including religiosity, gender, psychological state, and age. It is often assumed by the children of the elderly that the fear of death is prevalent in their parents. Daily the medical staff encounters the presence of death anxiety: from family members or the staff itself. In order to understand this phenomenon, a three-tier study was conducted on non-terminal elderly inpatients in an acute geriatric care ward. The study showed that the elderly had low levels of anxiety (scoring 4/15 on Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale) but their children scored higher for themselves (6.9/15) and for their parents (8.9/15). A regression model showed that only the presence of generalized anxiety and religiosity of parent had an effect explaining 33.6% of the variance. Death anxiety of death is usually absent in the elderly but rather they fear the dying process. On the other hand, their children do fear death, which they extrapolate onto their parents. This causes conflicts since the children prevent disclosure of relevant medical information to their parents. This has to be addressed by the staff when dealing with family members, to allow open and honest communication with their patients. The staff need to explain to the family that the elderly are not afraid of death but of the suffering from the dying process.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thanatophobia (Death Anxiety) in the Elderly: The Problem of the Child’s Inability to Assess Their Own Parent’s Death Anxiety State

Sinoff

2017

Front. Med.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Duff and Hong (1995) conducted a survey of 674 older adults and found that death anxiety was significantly associated with the frequency of attending religious services. This factor was particularly related to the belief in life after death.…”

Section: Death Anxiety: the Fear Of Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Death Imitates Life: Cultural Influences on Conceptions of Death and Dying

Gire¹

2014

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Indeed, positive religious coping has been associated with positive psychosocial functioning among AL residents (Fry, 2000;Schanowitz & Nicassio, 2006). Duff and Hong (1995) reported from a study in a retirement community that religious older adults were less afraid of death and maintained hope for the future. In addition, McFadden and Jacobson (2004) note that AL residents regularly attended on-site religious activities (e.g., worship or Bible study) and became more religious than before they relocated to AL.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Religiousness has also been considered as an important factor when people deal with life challenges including the burdens of caregiving (Picot, Debanne, Namazi, & Wykle, 1997;Roff, Burgio, Gitlin, Nichols, Chaplin, & Hardin, 2004), physical and mental illnesses (Idler, 2002;Koenig et al 2001), widowhood (Roff, Durkin, Sun, & Klemmack, 2007), stress associated with aging (Fry, 2000), and death (Duff & Hong, 1995;Patterson, King, Ball, Whittington, & Perkins, 2003). Although the salutary effects of religiousness in the face of a wide range of life challenges have been demonstrated, little is known about the role of religiousness in the lives of older adults in assisted living (AL) settings.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

Religiousness and Social Integration in Assisted Living

Park

Jennings

Shin

et al. 2010

Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The positive effects of religiousness on coping with transitions and other challenges in life are well documented. However, little is known about specific roles that religious beliefs and activities provide for residents who are becoming integrated into assisted living (AL) settings. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and meanings associated with religiousness among AL residents. Qualitative data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 29 residents in four AL settings in a Southern state. Findings revealed four key themes: the opportunity for interactions, coping mechanisms, sense of self, and privacy. Practice implications for the AL community were suggested.

show abstract

Age Density, Religiosity and Death Anxiety in Retirement Communities

Cited by 31 publications

References 15 publications

Thanatophobia (Death Anxiety) in the Elderly: The Problem of the Child’s Inability to Assess Their Own Parent’s Death Anxiety State

Thanatophobia (Death Anxiety) in the Elderly: The Problem of the Child’s Inability to Assess Their Own Parent’s Death Anxiety State

How Death Imitates Life: Cultural Influences on Conceptions of Death and Dying

Religiousness and Social Integration in Assisted Living

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About