Sex differences in death anxiety: Testing the emotional expressiveness hypothesis

Abstract

Abstract Several researchers have reported sex differences in death anxiety, but such differences have not been systematically investigated. This study attempts to test the generality of elevated death anxiety of women in a heterogeneous, racially mixed adult sample (h = 117). Moreover, we tested the viability of one explanation of this apparent gender difference. We statistically controlled for potential sex differences in self-disclosure or “social desirability” response bias. As predicted, women scored higher than men on the affectively oriented Death Anxiety Scale, but not on the more cognitively oriented Threat Index. However, in conflict with the emotional expressiveness hypothesis, this pattern of findings remained unchanged once we statistically controlled self-disclosure and social desirability. These findings suggest that sex differences in death attitudes are real rather than artifactual, and deserve more empirical study.