Measuring death anxiety: conceptual, psychometric, and factor-analytic aspects

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Gerontology
• Thanatology

Background:

• Assessing attitudes toward death and dying is crucial in various psychological and medical fields.
• Existing measures may lack brevity, reliability, or validity.
• Understanding death anxiety is important for patient care and psychological well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To construct a brief, reliable, and valid questionnaire for measuring attitudes toward death and dying.
• To identify the underlying dimensions of death anxiety.
• To provide a tool for future research on death anxiety.

Main Methods:

• Development and validation of the Death Anxiety Questionnaire (DAQ).
• Cross-validation of the DAQ with established anxiety and depression scales.
• Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and test-retest reliability assessments.
• Principal-components factor analysis to determine dimensions of death anxiety.

Main Results:

• The DAQ demonstrated good internal consistency (alpha = .83) and test-retest reliability (r = .87).
• Evidence for construct, concurrent, and discriminant validity of the DAQ was established.
• Factor analysis revealed four dimensions: Fear of the Unknown, Fear of Suffering, Fear of Loneliness, and Fear of Personal Extinction.
• No significant sex or age differences were found in death anxiety scores.

Conclusions:

• The Death Anxiety Questionnaire (DAQ) is a psychometrically sound instrument for measuring death anxiety.
• The identified dimensions provide a nuanced understanding of death anxiety.
• The DAQ can be utilized in diverse populations for research and clinical applications.