Death Anxiety in Japan and Australia

Abstract

This study compared death anxiety ratings as measured by the Templer Death Anxiety Scale (Templer, 1970) in 121 Japanese and 139 Australian subjects. Japanese subjects had significantly higher death anxiety scores than their Australian counterparts. Australian women scored significantly higher than Australian men, but no sex differences were found in the Japanese sample. A slight but statistically significant positive correlation was found between age and death anxiety scores. This study contradicted other research that indicated that Eastern cultural attitudes mitigated anxiety about death. These findings are discussed in relation to the complex relationship between culture and death anxiety as well as in relation to problems inherent in our current conception of death anxiety.

Age, Gender, and Living Circumstances: Discriminating Older Adults on Death Anxiety

“…Unexpectedly, however, those living with family members actually reported more death anxiety than those living alone. The increased death anxiety in the elderly is consistent with some previous results in U.S. (Neimeyer et al, 1988;Thorson & Powell, 1994) and one Pakistani sample (Kausar & Saima, 2002), but not other research in U.S. samples (McMordie & Kumar, 1984;Schumaker et al, 1991). Given the relative older age of the present sample compared with others, an implication is that death anxiety increases with age in those over 70 years of age.…”

Hypnotizability, Attitudes toward Eating, and Concern with Body Size in a Female College Population

“…Pettinati, Horne, and Staats (1985) found that bulimics and, to a lesser extent, anorectics scored high on standard tests of hypnotic susceptibility. This is consistent with the view that an extreme drive for thinness is an unquestioning over-acceptance of the all-pervasive culture-based suggestion to "be thin" (Schumaker & Groth-Marnat, 1988).…”

“…It could be speculated that different aspects of hypnotizability might relate to both the etiology and maintenance of extreme attitudes towards eating and weight regulation. Waking suggestibility might be a factor in the transmission of shared beliefs ("be thin") within a person's family and culture (Schumaker & Groth-Marnat, 1988;Swartz, 1985), and the dissociative aspect of hypnotizability might relate to the perceptual distortions and dissociative phenomenon frequently reported in populations with extreme concern with food regulation (Bliss, 1982(Bliss, , 1983Kaffman & Sadeh, 1989). In particular, the family is likely to be a significant factor in the formation of attitudes towards eating and weight regulation.…”

Death Anxiety: An Analysis of an Evolving Concept

“…Schumaker, Warren, and Groth-Marnat (1991) found higher death anxiety among Japanese males compared to Australian males, suggesting fewer defensive postures toward death among Japanese males. Women may also have different sociocultural experiences and cultural conditioning than men.…”