Death Anxiety as a Function of Aging Anxiety

To assess how different facets of aging anxiety contributed to the prediction of tangible and existential death anxiety, 167 Americans of various Christian denominations completed a battery of questionnaires. Multiple regression analyses, controlling for demographic variables and previously demonstrated predictors of death anxiety, revealed that the aging anxiety dimensions of physical appearance concern and fear of losses each positively predicted tangible death anxiety. In addition, the aging anxiety dimension of fear of losses predicted existential death anxiety. Results are discussed with respect to the multifaceted nature of death anxiety and how different forms of aging anxiety contribute to anxieties about death.