Religiousness, Religious Doubt, and Death Anxiety

James A. Henrie · Julie Hicks Patrick

94 citations0/0 files storedThe International Journal of Aging and Human Development

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Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology

Abstract

Terror Management Theory (TMT) (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986) suggests that culturally-provided worldviews (e.g., religion) may protect individuals from experiencing death anxiety, and several studies have supported this position. However, if one's worldview can offer protection, doubts concerning one's worldview could undermine this protection. The current study investigated whether age, gender, religiousness, and religious doubt were associated with death anxiety. Using data from 635 younger, middle-aged, and older adults, a structural equation model with age, gender, religiousness, and religious doubt predicting death anxiety was tested. The model had a good fit (chi2 (76) = 193.467, p < .001; GFI = .961, CFI = .976, TLI = .967, RMSEA = .049) and accounted for 12.3% of the variance in death anxiety. Results were consistent with TMT, as religiousness was inversely associated with death anxiety, while religious doubt was positively associated with death anxiety.

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References

1967Personal Religious Orientation and Prejudice.1986The Causes and Consequences of a Need for Self-Esteem: A Terror Management Theory 2023Review of Religious Research 1999Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion 1951The Individual and His Religion; A Psychological Interpretation 2009A Terror Management Analysis of the Psychological Functions of Religion 1990Intrinsic-Extrinsic Religious Orientation: The Boon or Bane of Contemporary Psychology of Religion?1999DEATH ANXIETY IN OLDER ADULTS: A QUANTITATIVE REVIEW

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2020Gender Differences in Attitudes Toward Death Among Chinese College Students and the Implications for Death Education Courses 2019Death Anxiety, Religious Doubt, and Depressive Symptoms across Race in Older Adults 2021Uncertainty in Faith, Fear of Death? Transitions in Religious Doubt and Death Anxiety in Later Life 2018Effect of Teaching the Components of Spiritual Intelligence on Death Anxiety in the Elderly 2019Review of the Effect of Religion on Anxiety

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