Those Who are about to Fly: Death Concern and Feelings and Behavior about Air Travel

Abstract

In order to test three hypotheses relating fears of flying and death, 249 persons comprising three groups were questioned. Pre- and post-flight samples were obtained at an airport and members of a street (control) group were interviewed in non-airport settings. Two of the hypotheses obtained support. Fears of flying and death tend to be positively associated and insurance buying may mitigate such anxiety. The roles of sex, age and religiosity were also assessed. Suggestions that the pre-flight group was experiencing stress and resolving anxiety via denial were inferred from the pattern of death-flying item relationships observed.