Death anxiety

The aims of this study were: a) to analyze death anxiety using the Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) of Templer (1970), and, b) to determine whether death anxiety could be modulated by thougths about the own’s death or by previous experiences of seeing someone dying. In order to that, psychological undergraduated students (261 women and 51 men, with a mean age of 21 years) answered the DAS. Results show that higher levels of detah anxiety were found among women, persons with religious beliefs, persons who prefer to die acompanied by their families or friend, and persons who prefer to die having low levels of conscientiousness. People having thougths abouth their own death also experience higher levels of death anxiety. On the other hand, people who have seen somebody dying, experience lower death anxiety levels.