Factor analytic study of attitudes toward death among college students

This investigation was designed to compare the factorial structures of the cognitive and feelings components of attitudes toward death among collgee students, 132 whites and 101 blacks; 81 males and 152 females. A test consisting of 40 items having five Likert-type responses was constructed. The BMDO3M computer programme utilising a principal component solution and orthogonal rotation of the factor matrix was used. The hypothesis that people of different races and sexes, having divergent temperaments and beliefs, will also show different factors involved in their attitudes toward death was not supported because the factors of escape, depressive-fear, mortality, and sarcasm were common to them all.