Death anxiety in Lebanese college students in 1998 and 2015

Abstract

The present investigation sought to explore the difference in death anxiety between two different samples of students who studied at the same university in Lebanon in 1998 and 2015. Based on the changes in the social, economic, and political conditions that took place over these 17 years, it is possible to predict the change in death anxiety during this period. The participants in the 1998 study included 228 undergraduates, whereas the 2015 sample consisted of 292 students. All participants responded to Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale (DAS). Sex-related differences on the DAS were statistically significant in the 1998 group where women obtained a higher mean than the men. The t-test was significant at 0.001. Among women, the 2015 group obtained a significantly lower mean score than did their female counterparts in the 1998 group, whereas the difference between the two years in men was not significant. In sum, the hypothesis of the study was partially verified, i.e., a change in death anxiety level in some groups has happened as a result of the passage of time and other factors. In this case, death anxiety may be considered a fluid entity influenced by different environmental conditions.