Templer's Death Anxiety Scale revisited: the Dutch version

Abstract

The aim of the present study was twofold, to present and analyse a Dutch version of Templer's Death Anxiety Scale and to explore further the scale's factor structure. Subjects were 179 Dutch freshmen in psychology who filled out the scale during a group test-session. Mean scale scores, standard deviations, and internal consistency were comparable to data reported in earlier studies. A principal components analysis identified five factors with eigenvalues larger than one. The first factor appeared to be an underlying primary dimension on which all items except Item 10 loaded substantially. It is suggested to change the response format form a dichotomous to a 5-point scale and to accept the Dutch version of the Death Anxiety Scale as a reliable measure of death anxiety.