The Death Anxiety Inventory: a revision

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Psychometrics
• Health Psychology

Background:

• Death anxiety is a significant aspect of human psychology.
• Existing instruments may require cultural adaptation and psychometric refinement.
• Understanding the multifaceted nature of death anxiety is crucial for mental health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt and validate the Death Anxiety Inventory for a Spanish population.
• To identify the underlying factor structure of death anxiety in this demographic.
• To establish the reliability and validity of the revised inventory.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of responses from 866 Spanish participants (673 women, 193 men) to the Death Anxiety Inventory.
• Item analysis involving the removal of items with poor psychometric properties (negative item-total correlation, low factor loadings).
• Factor analysis to determine the underlying structure and Cronbach's alpha for reliability assessment.

Main Results:

• A 17-item inventory was developed after item exclusion.
• The revised inventory demonstrated high reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .92).
• A four-factor structure emerged, explaining 65.8% of the variance: Death Acceptance, Externally Generated Death Anxiety, Death Finality, and Thoughts About Death.

Conclusions:

• The 17-item, four-factor Death Anxiety Inventory is a reliable and valid measure for Spanish populations.
• The identified factors provide a nuanced understanding of death anxiety.
• This validated tool can be used in clinical and research settings to assess death anxiety.