Influence of Cohort and Sex on Death Anxiety Among Adults in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

Different studies have found that a full and satisfying life appears to reduce anxiety about death in old people, but among the young and middle aged, it probably increases one’s fears. Surprisingly, anxiety about death does not seem to be related to chronological age. Other researchers have found that middle-aged adults actually fear death more than do young adults or older adults. Older adults, though, think about death more and talk about it more in conversation with others than do middle aged and young adults. This study critically analyzed the influence of age and gender on death anxiety among three age groups of adults; namely early adults (18-34 years), middle adults (35-60 years), late adults (60 years and above).The methodology adopted for the study is the One-Way ANOVA and Independent t-statistics for the analyses of the data. The results revealed that there is no significant influence of age cohort on death anxiety. The results also revealed that female middle adult age group significantly scored higher than their male counterpart on death anxiety.The study therefore recommends amongst other things that the current modern societies should create a variety of institutional mechanisms for reducing the actual experience of death from everyday life. Also, that traditional mechanism such as religion and culture, hospices, drugs, death education, psychotherapy, philosophical belief system and conducive environment be equipped with adequate infrastructure to reduce the fear of death among the populace.