The relationship between physical health and fear of death in rural residents: The mediation effect of meaning in life and mental health

Abstract

The current research used questionnaire data to examine the direct and indirect paths between physical health and fear of death. For 386 rural residents, physical health, meaning in life, and mental health were negatively related to fear of death. Physical health affected fear of death through three paths: one was the independent mediation of meaning in life, the other was the independent mediation of mental health, and the third was the serial mediation of meaning in life and mental health. To reduce the fear of death and improve the quality of life among rural residents, educational interventions of meaning in life and mental health are imperative.

Ethical approval

This article was approved by the Ethics Committee for Human Participants of Ningxia University in China.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [31560285] and [31860283] to Fengqin Ding.