Some reactions toward death among college students.

Middleton, Warren C.

doi:10.1037/h0059069

Cited by 42 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…Numerous researchers (e.g., Christ, 1961;Diggory & Rothman, 1961;McDonald, 1976;Middleton, 1936;Neimeyer & Moore, 1994) have examined gender differences in fear of death but conclusive findings have been elusive. Pollack (1979) and Neimeyer, Wittkowski and Moser (2004) provide overviews of studies examining gender differences and highlight inconsistencies in the findings.…”

Section: Gender Dijferences In Fear O F Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In general, women are reported to possess a greater overall fear of death (DaSilva & Schork, 1984;McDonald, 1976;Neimeyer & Moore, 1994;Templer, Ruff & Franks, 1974;Ray & Najman, 1974) and think about their own deaths more frequently (Middleton, 1936) than do men. Examining gender differences in death attitudes as a function of specific fears, Lester (1972) found that women express a greater fear of dying than do men but they do not differ from men on fears about others dying or on a general fear of death.…”

Section: Gender Dijferences In Fear O F Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Psychological research using direct questionnaire methods showed that individuals expressed little concern about death (Middleton, 1936), despite the opposite evidenced in other disciplines (e.g., philosophy, religious studies).…”

Section: Early Psychological Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Early psychological research has shown that people either express little concern about death (e.g., Middleton, 1936) or do not report what they actually believe (Alexander, Colley & Alderstein, 1957). Becker (1973) maintains that fear of death is an emotional manifestation of a self-preservation instinct that people must have in order to strive toward maintaining their existence.…”

Section: Why Do We Fear Death?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Middleton (1936) examined attitudes about death in a sample of college students through the use of an open-ended questionnaire. General trends revealed by the data showed that nearly one-quarter of participants thought about which disease would cause their death, with cancer, tuberculosis and heart disease being the most frequently mentioned, and that over half of participants expected to die in car accidents.…”

Section: Death-related Predictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Predictors of Fear of Death and Self-Mortality: An Atlantic Canadian Perspective

Power

Smith

2008

Death Studies

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Section: Gender Dijferences In Fear O F Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gender Dijferences In Fear O F Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Early Psychological Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Why Do We Fear Death?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Death-related Predictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predictors of Fear of Death and Self-Mortality: An Atlantic Canadian Perspective

Power

Smith

2008

Death Studies

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The relationship between subjective life expectancy, death anxiety and general anxiety

Handal

1969

J. Clin. Psychol.

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PROBLEMAlthough research in the area of death anxiety is relatively limited, a number of studies have investigated the relationship between attitudes toward death, personality organization , and various demographic variables. However, the results of these studies have generated contradictory hypotheses and yielded inconclusive findings.For example, Katsenbaum ( ? ) investigated attitudes toward death in male and female adolescents. Although 15% of his Ss expressed concern about death, Katsenbaum concluded that most adolescents live in the present, reject death, and disconnect it from the rest of their lives. Similarly, Middletun@) investigated death concern and, although his results showed that 13% of his Ss had a strong fear of death, it was concluded that college students were unconcerned about death.Findings contrary to these were reported by Alexander, Colby and Alderstein") who reported that death was an affect-laden concept for college students equal to concern about sex and school. Similar findings were presented by Dickstein and Blatt(*) who reported that death concern is related to a foreshortened time perspective.One difficulty in attempting to relate these contradictory findings is that these studies utilize diverse methods of measurement which may assess different components of attitudes toward death as well as different levels of awareness. In addition, Lester(6), in a recent review of the literature, voiced the criticism that the scales used as measures for death anxiety frequently fail to report validity information for the scale employed.The present study primarily investigated some psychological correlates of death anxiety, thereby contributing to the determination of the construct validity of the death anxiety scale used. The study focused upon the relationship between death anxiety and the Ss' expressed expectations of their own life spans, that is Subjective Life Expectancy (SLE), which is viewed as a highly critical indicator of a complex attitude toward an eniotionally charged topic(') and not as a composite based upon demographic variables. ( l o ) METHODThe Ss were 66 male and 50 female graduate students at a northeastern university. The males had an age range of 20 to 64, mean age 29.0 years, S D 9.15; for females, the age range was 22 to 49, mean age 33.4 years, S D 8.28.A questionnaire was administered to the Ss requesting information about their projected life span, their estimate of the life expectancy for their own sex, and that of the opposite sex, age, occurrence of one or more deaths of family members mother, father, spouse, or siblings), or in close friends, frequency with which 6 eath had been discussed in the family, and frequency of church attendance. In order to determine unrealistically high and low subjective life expectancy groups, all subjective life expectancy estimates were ranked from highest to lowest (independently for each sex), and the highest and lowest 20oJ, comprised the unrealistically high and unrealistically low subjective life expectancy groups, respectively...

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Elements of death anxiety and meanings of death

1988

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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.

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Some reactions toward death among college students.

Abstract: s This investigation is based upon a group study of subjects from two Indiana universities-DePauw and Butler. The writer wishes to acknowledge the cooperation of Dr. I. T. Shultz, who circulated a number of the questionnaires among students in the latter institution.

Cited by 42 publications

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Predictors of Fear of Death and Self-Mortality: An Atlantic Canadian Perspective

Predictors of Fear of Death and Self-Mortality: An Atlantic Canadian Perspective

The relationship between subjective life expectancy, death anxiety and general anxiety

Elements of death anxiety and meanings of death

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