Personal meanings of death: A content analysis of free-response narratives

Abstract

Despite the proliferation of research on death attitudes, relatively little attention has been paid to idiosyncratic meanings of death, as opposed to the large volume of work on death anxiety using standardized measures. This study applied a reliable coding system to narrative descriptions of the meaning of death contributed by 504 respondents. Content analysis of these free-form responses suggested that constructions of death differed significantly depending on the subject's sex, health status, previous history of suicide attempts or ideation, and death fear or threat. Most importantly, respondents professing a coherent “personal philosophy of death” viewed death as more purposeful, expected, and involving some form of continued existence, whereas those without such a philosophy wrote narratives implying a negative evaluation, low acceptance, and low understanding of death. Modifications of the coding system for use with free-response data are suggested, along with applications of the method to future research.

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