Death anxiety in Kuwaiti middle-aged personnel.
The present study aimed to examine the level of death anxiety, the sex-related differences among a middle-aged Kuwaiti personnel sample, and to explore the replicability of the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety (ASDA) factors. A sample of 236 volunteer Kuwaiti personnel took part in the study. The mean ages of men and women were 41.5 (SD = 7.5) and 40.9 (SD = 7.1), respectively. The alpha reliability of the ASDA was found to be high (.93). Women had a significantly higher mean total score on the ASDA as well as on 17 out of its 20 items. Middle-aged personnel had a significantly lower mean ASDA total score than younger college students (M age = 22). The factor analysis of the ASDA items yielded three factors: fear of dead people and tombs; fear of postmortem events; and fear of lethal disease. These factors were highly replicable with previous factors extracted from a Kuwaiti college student sample. On the basis of the present findings, there are three general conclusions as follows: death anxiety is negatively associated with age; the sex-related differences on death anxiety are salient in the Arab samples; and the ASDA has a highly replicable factor structure.
Abdel-Khalek
Ahmed M
AM
College of Social Sciences, Kuwait University, Kaifan. ahmedkuniv@hotmail.com
Al-Kandari
Yagoub
Y
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D001293:Attitude to Death / Q000208:ethnology*; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007730:Kuwait; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires