The relationship between fear and death and anxiety.

Abstract

Studies examining fear of death and anxiety have consistently shown these constructs to be positively related. Although several measures of anxiety have been examined, fear of death has always been treated unidimensionally. The present research was an attempt to examine eight types of fear of death in relation to two types of anxiety. Questionnaire data were collected from 375 male and female undergraduates at a Mid-western university. Anxiety was measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and fear of death by a factor analytic multidimensional scale. Significant correlations were found between seven of the eight fear of death dimensions and both measures of anxiety. Regression analysis showed fear of premature death and fear of the dead to be the most important death-related fears associated with anxiety.