The Structure of Death Anxiety: A Factor Analytic Study

Abstract

University students in Canada (n=255) and Northern Ireland (n=315), graduate nursing students (n = 124), funeral service students (n = 79), and members of the Unitarian Fellowship (n = 83) completed Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (DAS). The responses of each group were subjected to principal components factor analysis using varimax rotational procedures and the factor scores derived from this analysis were then contrasted using multiple discriminant function analysis. Results indicated that there was more commonality than uniqueness in the factor patterns for these groups. Four common death anxiety patterns were classified as follows: (a) cognitive-affective concerns; (b) concern about physical alterations; (c.) concern about the passage of time; and (d) concern about stressors and pain. These factors are consistent with and extend the views expressed in previous research (i,e., Pandy, 1974-75; Pandy & Templer, 1972.