Occupation-Related Differences in Levels of Death Anxiety

Abstract

In order to ascertain the validity of the sentence completion method in the measurement of death anxiety, ten randomly selected items from the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank, Templer Death Anxiety Scale (DAS), Collett-Lester Attitude toward Death Scale, and a metaphoric image task were administered to forty volunteers in death-related occupations (firemen, funeral personnel) and forty individuals in non-death related occupations (secretaries, accountants, teachers, etc.). While Templer DAS scores (measuring conscious death anxiety) did not differ across groups, a conscious concern for the deaths of others, and two of four dimensions of covert/subconscious death fear, differentiated those in death-related occupations and those with non-death-related jobs. Substantial between-group differences in relationships among measures of age and conscious, fantasy, and covert levels of awareness were consistent with the notion of an occupation X sex X levels of death anxiety interaction in the present study. Implications of these data for occupational choice and for the measurement of death anxiety are discussed.