[Images of life, death, word and body in adolescence]

Using single-adjective semantic differential scales, images of life, death, word and body were examined in 176 male and 208 female university students. The results were as follows: (1) Factor analysis of scales were carried out concept by concept. Two factors, the positive image and the negative image, were extracted for all concepts. (2) The concepts of life and death showed a concept-scale interaction, whereas the factorial structures of the concepts of word and body were very similar. (3) Factor scores indicated that females have a more positive image of life than males, and that males have a more negative image of death and a more positive image of body than females. There was no sex difference in the image of word. (4) The positions of concepts in semantic space indicated that self-image and life image are very similar in females.