Age, gender, and living circumstances: discriminating older adults on death anxiety

Abstract

The present study examines the effect of age, gender, and living circumstances on elderly persons' death anxiety. For this purpose, 299 persons attending public parks (average age = 70 years) were interviewed using the Death Anxiety Survey Schedule, which is a set of 10 questions related to death anxiety from an Indian perspective. Women, those relatively older, and those living with family were significantly more anxious about the word death. The gender and age results in this Indian sample are similar to that in some western samples. The results that those living with family have significantly higher death anxiety are not in agreement with past western studies and may reflect cultural differences in anxiety about death.