On the Interrelationships among Exposure to Death and Dying, Fear of Death, and Anxiety

The present research was an attempt to examine the interrelationships among exposure to death and dying, fear of death, and anxiety. Questionnaire data were collected from 375 undergraduates at a midwestern university. Overall measures of exposure to death and dying were significantly correlated with several fears of death and were found unrelated to both state and trait anxiety. Both measures of anxiety were found to be positively related to several types of fear of death which held when controlling for the potential effects of exposure to death and dying. Measures of emotional closeness to the deceased, the relationship to the deceased, and the time elapsed since exposure to death were also examined and found related to various types of fear of death and anxiety. Several tentative explanations were suggested for the obtained relationships.