Relationships between Indices of Neuroticism,Attitudes toward and Concepts of Death,and Religiosity

Abstract

Young and middle-aged adults (79 men and 132 women) filled out a questionnaire which measured their fear of death, neuroticism (guilt-proneness, ego strength, impulsivity, and free-floating anxiety scales from the 16 PF), religiosity, and frequency of thinking about, denial of, and concept of death. Fear of death was associated with denial of death and denial of dying but not with free-floating anxiety, suggesting that fear of death is not a neurotic but a very specific fear. Guilt-prone individuals feared death more, thought about it more, and believed it to be more unnatural. This suggests that guilt-prone individuals may anticipate death as punishment. Those with low ego-strength feared death less if older, but independently of age they thought about it more frequently. Fear of death was much more strongly associated with religiosity and concept of death than any of these variables with the personality traits measured; so it seems that early religious socialization may be more influential for fear of death and concept of death than the specific neurotic characteristics of the person.