Psychosocial correlates of death anxiety in a population of medical students.

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between death anxiety and psychosocial functioning of medical students. Subjects were 50 first-year students, with instruments including the Death Anxiety Scale and the California Psychological Inventory. Product-moment correlations computed between test scores indicated significant, negative relationships between death anxiety and the California Psychological Inventory measures of Well-being ( r = –.52), Good Impression ( r = –.43), Self-control ( r = –.30), and Tolerance ( r = –.29). These results suggest that increased death anxiety may be associated with somewhat compromised social performance.