Death Anxiety across the Adult Years: An Examination of Age and Gender Effects

Abstract

Two studies examined death anxiety across the adult years. In the first study, 304 men and women between 18 and 87 years completed the Collett-Lester Fear of Death scale. Death anxiety peaked in both men and women during their 20s and declined significantly thereafter. However, women displayed a secondary spike during their 50s not seen in men. In the second study, 113 women between 18 and 85 years completed the Templer Death Anxiety Scale. Death anxiety displayed the same bimodal distribution and significant decline with age seen in Study 1. The results suggest that more emphasis should be placed on the cause of increased death anxiety among 20-year-olds and on why women, but not men, experience a second anxiety spike during their 50s.

Correlation between Self-esteem, Death Anxiety, and Spiritual Wellbeing in Korean University Students

“…This is consistent with the results of previous studies on Americans age 20~29 years who scored 89.90~97.44 points [22] and on Australian nursing students who scored 91~92 points [23]. Death anxiety is an emotional response felt universally by all humans, to greater and lesser degrees, to the event of death, or to negative feelings such as fear, aversion, and denial about the process of dying.…”

“…The problem of death is simultaneously the problem of life, and a problem related to human nature. According to Russac et al [22], when death anxiety was measured in adults of different ages, those aged 20~29 showed the highest levels. Early adulthood is the period of making continuous efforts to strengthen one's life and become a recognized member of society; when people realize that their dreams did not come true as they wished, they can fall into crisis [27].…”

Levels of Death Anxiety, Death Related Depression of Health Personnel Providing Emergency Medical Services and Their Coping Methods

“…Birey olayı ne kadar tehdit edici olarak algılarsa, yaşadığı kaygı da o kadar yoğun olacaktır. [1] Literatürde yaş, [17][18][19][20] cinsiyet, [21][22][23][24][25] medeni durum, [26] meslek, [26][27][28] mesleki deneyim, [29][30][31][32] ölüm tanıklıkla-rı, [17] inançlar [33] ve başetme yöntemleri, [34][35][36][37] gibi etkenlerin kişilerin ölümü algılamasını, ölümü ve hayatı anlamlandır-masını, ölümle ilgili tutum ve davranışlarını, ölüm kaygısı derecesini etkileyebildiği bildirilmektedir. Bunların yanında son yıllarda ölüm tehlikesi atlatma, yakınını kaybetme gibi deneyim ve yaş değişkenleri yerine "sosyal olgunluk"; kontrol odağı yerine "öz kontrol"; statü, bölüm, eğitim, ölüm gör-me sayısı gibi kategorik yaklaşımlar yerine "kişilik yapısı" ve etkenlerin daha önemli olduğu yönünde yorumlar ağırlık kazanmaktadır.…”

Gratitude lessens death anxiety

“…In fact, because educational attainment is higher among the young-olds, we had targeted a younger age group, many of whom may not normally be considered ''old.'' Despite a wide range, there is generally little variation in death anxiety within this age range (Russac et al 2007; see also ''Results'' section for a lack of correlation between age and death anxiety in this sample); thus it was a relatively homogeneous sample in terms of levels of death anxiety.…”

“…Gratitude is one of the most common feelings in everyday life in very old adults, along with happiness and contentment (Chipperfield et al 2003). The relative frequency with which gratitude is felt may account for the fact that very old adults are able to maintain low death anxiety (Gesser et al 1988;Russac et al 2007) despite social losses, physical decline, and nearness to death.…”