Mental imagery and anxiety toward death in adolescents

Abstract

This study analyzed the influence of the image of death (positive or negative) and gender on death anxiety and assessed several subscales of the Death Attitude Profile-Revised in a sample of 280 compulsory secondary education students. Individuals with a positive image of death were found to exhibit less death anxiety than individuals with a negative image of death, and death anxiety was higher in boys than girls. Students with a positive image of death had greater Approach Acceptance, less Fear of Death, less Death Avoidance, more Escape Acceptance, and more Neutral Acceptance than students with a negative image of death.