Abstract
The present study is aimed at examining the level of death anxiety and the sex-related differences among old-aged Iranian individuals sample to compare the old-aged persons with young college students and to explore the psychometric properties of the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety (ASDA) factors in old-aged sample. A sample of 146 volunteer Iranian individuals took part in the study. The mean ages were 68.58 (SD = 7.10), men 68.81 (SD = 7.44) and women 68.28 (SD = 6.76), respectively. The mean score of the ASDA was 51.09 (SD = 20.19). Cronbach's alpha of the ASDA was found to be high (0.94); and Spearman-Brown coefficient was 0.92. Women had a significantly higher mean total score on the ASDA. Old-aged individuals had a significantly higher mean ASDA total score than younger college students (M age = 25.77). The factor analysis of the ASDA items yielded three factors accounting for 67.88% of the total variance labeled (F1) fear of dead people and tombs; (F2) fear of lethal disease and postmortem events; and (F3) death fear. These factors were highly replicable with previous factors extracted from a middle-aged Kuwaiti sample. On the basis of the present results, there are the following three general conclusions: death anxiety is not significantly correlated with age; the sex-related differences on death anxiety are striking in the Iranian samples; and the ASDA has a highly replicable factor structure among two Iranian and Arab countries.
Highlights
IntroductionIt was defined and described the different ways in which it is manifested [1,2,3]
The mean scores of the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety (ASDA) items were from 1.67 (SD = 1.10) for item (12) “I dread walking in graveyards” to 3.58 (1.49) for item (6) “I worry that death deprives me of someone dear to me.”
The study showed that female Iranian elders had a significantly higher mean ASDA
Summary
It was defined and described the different ways in which it is manifested [1,2,3]. Death anxiety has been conceptualized as fear of death of oneself; fear of death of others; fear of dying of self; and fear of the dying of others [4,5,6,7]. Many factors influence death anxiety such as age, sex, culture, religion, physical health, and mental health [2]. Aging is a stage in developmental psychology and associated with various medical problems, loss of loved ones, and deteriorating cognitive abilities. Old-aged individuals being nearer to the end of life may experience death anxiety or death fear [8, 9]
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