Previous research has disclosed different meanings of death, varieties of death anxiety, and hundreds of factors extracted from the uni- and multi-dimensional death anxiety scales. However, there have been no empirical studies to elucidate the reasons for death fear. The Reasons for Death Fear Scale (RDFS) was constructed and validated. It consists of 18 brief items, with good reliabilities ( >...

A transition model hypothesizes that the discrepancy between desired and expected time left to live is greater for mid-old persons than young-old persons. This discrepancy arouses a greater fear of death, which is influenced by age, health, and purpose in life. With the use of the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale, 192 older adults (60 to 84 years of age) were assessed on these variables and...

Individuals' death anxiety or fear of death has been extensively investigated, and there are numerous conceptualizations used in the literature, including a distinction between the dimensions of death and dying of self and death and dying of others. This article addresses a gap in the literature and re-examines the relationship between these two dimensions, which are assumed to be positively, l...

Terror management theory asserts that death fear (fear of annihilation) is buffered by self-esteem and beliefs in literal and symbolic immortality achieved through participation in the cultural system. The aims of this study were to determine how variables suggested by the theory were related to fear of death measures. Participants were 123 Black and 265 White elders aged 60 to 100 years; they ...

We used longitudinal data (N = 155) to investigate the relation between religiousness and fear of death and dying in late adulthood. We found no linear relations between religiousness and fear of death and dying. Individuals who were moderately religious feared death more than individuals who scored high or low on religiousness. Fear of death also characterized participants who lacked congruenc...