Sex differences in fear of the consequences of death.

Abstract

Diggory and Rothman (1961) had subjects rank the consequences of that they feared. Men feared the effects for their dependents more while women feared the pain of dying and the distintegration of their bodies after more. seven consequences of were given to 237 male and 192 female undergraduate srudents aged 18 to 22 yr. (M = 20.2 yr., SD = 1.2) who were asked to rate each consequence on a five-point scale to express their degree of concern. women indicated significantly more concern over I am uncertain as to what might happen to me if there is a life after death (Ms = 2.9 and 2.7, t = 2.16, p = .03), I am afraid of what might happen to my body after death (Ms = 2.5 and 1.9, 6 = 5.18, p < .001), My would cause grief to my relatives and friends (IMS = 4.2 and 3.7, t = 4.39, p < .001), and The process of dying might be (Ms = 3.9 and 3.3, t = 4.69, P < ,001). sexes did not differ in their ratings of I could no longer have any I could no longer care for my and All my plans and projects would come to an end. Also the men and women did nor differ in their desire to have their bodies viewed at their funerals. A factor analysis for the responses of the men identified one factor, suggesting that they had a global concern or lack of concern over the consequences of death. factor analysis for the women (using the SPSSX principal components analysis with a varimax rotation) identified two factors, one with loadings for caring for dependents, causing grief to others and the end of plans, and the other with loadings for the end of experiences, what might happen in a life after death, the disintegration of the body and a painful dying. This suggests that the women were making more differentiated judgments about their atcimdes toward death. These results confirm the often reported greater anxiery about in women (Lonetto & Templer, 1986).