Is death anxiety more closely linked with optimism or pessimism among older adults?

Barnett, Michael D.; Anderson, Ellen; Marsden, Arthur D.

doi:10.1016/j.archger.2018.05.003

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The recurrent four themes in these theories are death as self-defeating, radical transformation, a threat to the purpose of life, and a threat to the realization of life potential. Such diversity in theoretical approaches has led to varied perspectives on death anxiety; however, these theories have substantial overlapping concepts (Barnett et al 2018). It means threats to death anxiety can be classified based on two factors: External causes, such as presence and search for meaning in life; and the internal evaluation of the self (Florian and Mikulincer 1998).…”

Section: Theories On Death Anxietymentioning

confidence: 99%

Death Anxiety, Religiosity and Culture: Implications for Therapeutic Process and Future Research

Pandya

Kathuria

2021

Religions

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Death anxiety is a common phenomenon that humans experience. It is multidimensional. There has been an upsurged interest around the discussion on death anxiety across the globe, however, much of the literature focuses on the concept of death anxiety, religiosity, and its role in mental health conditions. Further, studies on death anxiety are scattered and at times disconnected. It is important to review existing literature to get an overview of the current direction in research and understand its relevance to facilitate therapeutic processes. In this scoping review, literature was searched in databases such as PubMed, Scopus, and PsychINFO using key words such as “death anxiety”, “fear of death”, religion”, “culture”, and “psychopathology” combined with Boolean operators to narrow down the search results. The initial search yielded 614 records, of which 546 records were removed based on title review (363), abstract review (94), and full-text review (89). Finally, 68 articles were appraised, narratively synthesized, and thematically presented. Major themes revealed in the literature were theoretical frameworks of death anxiety, religiosity, universality, psychological effects of death anxiety, psychopathology, and religious coping strategies. There is a need to assess client’s death anxiety and address them using religious rituals and coping mechanisms.

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Section: Theories On Death Anxietymentioning

confidence: 99%

Death Anxiety, Religiosity and Culture: Implications for Therapeutic Process and Future Research

Pandya

Kathuria

2021

Religions

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“…Empirical studies have examined the impacts of COVID-19 related risk factors in contributing to psychological distress during the pandemic ( Arslan et al, 2020 ), yet little attention has been paid to the underlying mechanism that reduces psychological distress and increases happiness. Previous research has shown that psychological resource capacities like hope, optimism, and self-esteem can reduce death anxiety ( Barnett, Anderson, & Marsden III, 2018 ; Hiyoshi, Becker, Oishi, & Fukuyama, 2017 ; Soleimani et al, 2020 ). However, to date, there is no direct evidence testing the impact of positivity in the relationship between COVID-19 risk perception and death distress.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positivity explains how COVID-19 perceived risk increases death distress and reduces happiness

Yıldırım

Güler

2021

Personality and Individual Differences

169

156

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The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has produced an unprecedented impact on all aspects of life, including mental outcomes like death distress. This study examined the mediating effect of positivity on the association between COVID-19 related perceived risk, death distress, and happiness. Participants were 3109 Turkish adults (Mean age = 38.64 ± 10.40) who completed online measures of perceived risk, positivity, death distress, and happiness during the pandemic. Results showed that perceived risk had a significant direct effect on positivity, death distress, and happiness. Positivity had a significant direct effect on death distress and happiness. Mediation analysis indicated that positivity mediated the effect of perceived risk on death distress and happiness. Results suggest that positivity is an important aspect of developing strength-based preventions and interventions aiming to reduce psychological distress and improve happiness.

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“…Examples include self-realization theories, personal construct theory, self-concept discrepancy theory, search-for-meaning theories, theories of denial, and others. Four aspects tend to be common across these models: death is conceptualized as a radical transformation and separation, annihilation of the self, a threat to the realization of life’s basic goals and propensities, and a threat to the meaningfulness of life [10]. Such diversity in theoretical approaches has led to various perspectives on death anxiety; however, these theories are accompanied by drawbacks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such diversity in theoretical approaches has led to various perspectives on death anxiety; however, these theories are accompanied by drawbacks. One weakness relates to the substantial amount of overlap among theories [10]. Florian and Mikulincer pointed out that threats to death anxiety can be replaced by two categories depending on the chosen theory: either the meaningfulness of life or self-realization [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between meaning in life and death anxiety in the elderly: self-esteem as a mediator

et al. 2019

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BackgroundDeath anxiety is a common phenomenon in all societies. Older adults may be more prone to death anxiety than their younger counterparts; however, death anxiety among older adults is not well understood. This study explores the relationship between meaning in life, self-esteem, and death anxiety in senior citizens in China.MethodsA total of 283 older adults participated in this study; data were collected via the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Death Anxiety Scale.ResultsResults show that the dimensions of meaning in life, presence of meaning (r = − 0.43, p < 0.01), search for meaning (r = − 0.31, p < 0.01), and self-esteem (r = − 0.54, p < 0.01) were each negatively correlated with death anxiety. Regression analysis reveals that meaning in life significantly predicted self-esteem and death anxiety (F = 45.70, p < 0.01; R2 = 0.33). Path analysis indicated that self-esteem either completely or partially mediated the effects of meaning in life on death anxiety in older adults.ConclusionsOverall, meaning in life appears to be significantly correlated with death anxiety in older adults, and self-esteem can mediate this effect.

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Is death anxiety more closely linked with optimism or pessimism among older adults?

Cited by 14 publications

References 37 publications

Death Anxiety, Religiosity and Culture: Implications for Therapeutic Process and Future Research

Death Anxiety, Religiosity and Culture: Implications for Therapeutic Process and Future Research

Positivity explains how COVID-19 perceived risk increases death distress and reduces happiness

Relationship between meaning in life and death anxiety in the elderly: self-esteem as a mediator

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