Death anxiety in females with and without exposure to death and dying: differential dimensions

Abstract

Exposure to traumatic events like death and dying is anxiety provoking. High anxiety can contribute to psychological breakdown of the individual. A study was conducted to examine the impact of exposure to death and dying on different dimensions of fear of death. Data was obtained from 100 females who were professionally exposed to death/dying and their 100 matched controls that were not exposed to death/ dying in the last two years, using a background questionnaire and Collett-Lester’s fear of death scale. All subjects exhibited varying degrees of death anxiety from low to high. Females who were professionally exposed to death/dying reported to have significantly higher fear of death, and fear of dying of self as compared to their counterparts who were not exposed to death/dying in last two years (t= 1.65, p < .05, t= 2.74, p < .01, respectively). While comparing the fear of death of self with fear of death of others; and fear of dying of self with fear of dying of others, the females in both the groups were more fearful about the death and dying of others as compared to self. In the group exposed to death, the fear of death of self/ fear of death of others exhibited significant differences with the scores being more for others as compared to self (t = 6.87, p < .01). The relationship of socio-demographic variables (age and religious background) with death anxiety has also been explored in this study. One dimension of death anxiety i.e. fear of death of others was found to be negatively and significantly correlated with age in group-I (professionally exposed to death/ dying) as well as in group-II (not exposed to death/dying in last 2 years). The two main religious groups in this study i.e. Hindus and Sikhs were compared on all the dimensions of death anxiety and no significant difference was observed. The implications of the findings are discussed in the paper.