Death Anxiety During COVID-19 and its Related Factors among Chinese Elderly People

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating death anxiety and its related factors in Chinese elderly people during COVID-19. This study totally interviewed 264 participants from four cities in different regions of China. Death anxiety scale (DAS), NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (Neo-FFI) and Brief COPE were scored on the basis of one-on-one interviews. Quarantine experience didn’t make significant difference in death anxiety among the elderly; Elderly people with high death anxiety had higher scores of neuroticism, and were more likely to use a Behavior Disengagement coping strategy; Multiple linear regression analysis showed that neuroticism, openness and COVID impact predicted 44.6% of the variance in the death anxiety among elderly people. The results support both theories of vulnerability-stress model and terror management theory (TMT). In the post-epidemic era, we suggest to pay attention to the mental health status of elderly people with personality susceptibility to handling the stress of infection badly.

Keywords

Death anxiety Chinese elderly people Personality traits Coping strategies Quarantine COVID-19

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