Elements of death anxiety and meanings of death

Abstract

The objectives of this study were: (1) to test hypotheses that women would have higher death anxiety than men and that older persons would have lower death anxiety than younger people; and (2) to probe for meanings of death among a large, heterogeneous sample. A group of 599 adolescents and adults completed a death anxiety scale; factor analysis of the resultant data revealed seven orthogonal factors. Both hypotheses were supported at acceptable levels of significance. Item analysis revealed additional information on meanings of death: Older respondents indicated a concern over the existence of an afterlife and over loss of personal control; women expressed more fear of pain and bodily decomposition. The strongest finding was variation in death anxiety by age, which confirms Butler's contention that the life review helps the aged to resolve conflicts and relieve anxiety.

Personality, death anxiety, and gender

“…However, men and women have been shown to construe fear of death differently (Lonetto & Templer, 1986) . Women, for example, seem to express higher fears of decomposition and the pain associated with dying (Diggory & Rothman , 1961;Thorson & Powell, 1990). Furthermore, it is not unusual for various personality measures to report separate norms for males and females.…”

Investigation of the Death Anxiety and Meaning in Life Levels among Middle-Aged Adults

“…Contrary to these findings, Thorson and Powell (1988) and Henrie and Hicks-Patrick (1970) found that the elderly experienced less death anxiety than younger individuals, since their conflict-resolving and anxiety-coping skills were better. Russac, Gatliff, Reece, and Spootswood (2007) investigated the relationship between death anxiety and the variables of age and gender in their study of 304 individuals (aged 18-87 years) living in the United States.…”

Evaluation of death anxiety and effecting factors in a Turkish sample

“…Therefore, in this study, levels of depression and trait anxiety were measured and their possible effects on death anxiety were examined. In addition, the effect of gender and age on death anxiety, which was demonstrated by previous studies (Cicirelli, 2001;Drolet, 1990;Galt & Hayslip, 1998;Rasmussen & Brems, 1996;Tang, Chiou, Lin, Wang, & Liand, 2011;Thorson & Powell, 1988), was also investigated.…”

“…This finding repeated the results of Cicirelli (2001) and Thorson and Powell (1988). In addition, women had higher general anxiety scores.…”

“…Previous studies both support (Drolet, 1990) and controvert (Cicirelli, 2001;Galt & Hayslip, 1998;Rasmussen & Brems, 1996;Thorson & Powell, 1988;Yalom, 1980) our results. In parallel with our findings, Neimeyer, Wittkowski, and Moser (2004) reported that age is actually not a direct predictor of death anxiety.…”