An Examination of Death Salience: A Component in the Death Anxiety Model

<p>Reviews of the literature have identified few consistent theoretical approaches in the assessment of death anxiety and death attitudes for patients diagnosed with a potentially life threatening illness, such as cancer. This illness experience forces patients to contemplate their mortality. The present study employed a portion of the Death Anxiety Model to examine the relationships between death salience, beliefs about the self, beliefs about the world, death meaning, and death anxiety. Three groups (N = 121) who differed on death salience were examined: cancer survivors (intrapersonal - high salience), spouses of cancer survivors (interpersonal - moderate salience), and healthy patients with no previous exposure to a life threatening illness or cancer (no personal - low salience). It was hypothesized that 1) the salience groups would differ on death anxiety and death meaning, 2) positive death meaning would be negatively correlated with death anxiety, and 3) death salience group membership would be predicted by beliefs about the self, beliefs about the world, death meaning, and death anxiety. Results showed that the salience groups differed on existential well-being, death meaning (fear and avoidance) and death anxiety. Healthy patients were more avoidant of death than either the cancers survivors or the spouses. However, Spouses of cancer survivors viewed death with more fear than the Healthy group and the cancer survivors themselves. Death salience group membership was correctly classified for 70.3% of patients as predicted by length of time married, causal attributions — external and personal control, belief in a just world, Existential well-being, death fear, death avoidance, neutral acceptance, approach acceptance, escape acceptance, and death anxiety. These results indicate that the experience of a life threatening disease such as cancer has a profound influence on the meaning of death, for both patients and the patient's spouse.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year

2002

Author dc:creator

• Mason, Rachel A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kelly R. Morton
• Hector Betancourt
• Joanna Worthley

• Psychology
• Death -- psychological aspects; Death -- psychology; Anxiety.

Statement dc:rights

• This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/714

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsrepository.llu.edu:etd-1787