Review of Literature

Cicirelli (2002) article was based on Fear of Death in Older Adults: Predictions
from Terror Management Theory. In this, article the population include black and white
elders. The sample size of the population was 123 Black and 265 White elders, aged 60 to
100 years. They were assessed on the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (MFDOS),
self-esteem, religiosity, locus of control, socio-economic status, social support and health.
The article used regression analysis test. Regression analysis findings was (p<.05) offered
partial support to the theory. Findings of this study provide partial support for the
hypothesis that cultural worldview variables suggested by Terror Management Theory
(TMT) are related to fear of death assessed at the level of immediate awareness.
Predictions regarding the relationships of religiosity, externality, and social support to
fear of annihilation were supported. However, one important element of the hypothesis,
that higher self-esteem would be associated with less fear of annihilation was only
partially supported. Although a very weak correlation (r = −.11) between self-esteem and
fear of annihilation was found, self-esteem was not a significant predictor of Fear of the
Unknown in the regression analysis. However, it did have an indirect effect mediated by
externality.

Wink, Scott (2005) article was based on Does Religious Buffer Against the Fear
of Death and Dying in Late Adulthood? Findings from a Longitudinal Study. In this,
article longitudinal data is used. The sample size of the population (N=155) to investigate
the relation between religiousness and fear of death and dying in late adulthood. Fear of
death was unrelated to religiousness but correlated negatively with religiousness squared.
In the article, (first centered and then multiplied scores on the religiousness scale to
obtain the measure of religiousness squared). The curvilinear relation reflected the
finding that individuals who scored moderately on religiousness were afraid of death the
most. Participants who scored high on religiousness feared death the least, and those who
scored low on religiousness fell in between the moderate and high religiousness groups.
 Major, Whelton, Schimel, Sharpe (2016) article was based on Older Adults and
Fear of Death: The Protective Function of Generativity. The sample size of the
population was 179 seniors of age 60-70 yrs of age. The participants were recruited to
determine if subtle mortality salience inductions would lead participants to rate their own
generativity as higher than after a blatant induction, or no induction, after controlling for
pre-induction generativity. As expected, participants exposed to subtle death primes rated
themselves as having higher levels of generativity than the other two groups after co-
varying pre-induction generativity. In this article, Terror Management Theory (TMT)
posits that cultural worldviews function to allay concerns about human mortality.
Preliminary research with older adults has indicated that seniors do not respond to death
reminders in the same way as their younger counterparts. The purpose of the current
study was to test a developmentally relevant construct that may buffer death anxiety in
later life. It was hypothesized that Erikson's concept of generativity may encompass
death-denying properties for older adults.

Besser, Preil (2008) article was based on Attachment, Depression and Fear of
death in Older Adults: The Roles of Neediness and Perceived Availability of Social
Support. In this article, the sample size were 113 Israeli older adults (aged 69–85) who
were all in good health and functioning well. Social support was found to moderate the
association between a low positive other-dimension (PO) of attachment and fear of death.
Neediness mediated the relationships between a low positive self-dimension (PS) of
attachment and depression. 

Gary Sinoff, (2017) article was based on Thanatophobia (Death Anxiety) in the
Elderly: The Problem of the Child’s Inability to Assess Their Own Parent’s Death
Anxiety State. The sample size of the population was 44 seniors of age 60-70 yrs of age.
The study showed that the elderly had low levels of anxiety (scoring 4/15 on Templer’s
Death Anxiety Scale) but their children scored higher for themselves (6.9/15) and for
their parents (8.9/15). A regression model showed that only the presence of generalized
anxiety and religiosity of parent had an effect explaining 33.6% of the variance. All of the
elderly stated that they were afraid of dying a painful death, that is the dying process, and
this was also picked up their children. However, the children felt that their parents were
afraid of death or dying and were worrying about this all the time. Accordingly, the
children assumed that their parents were afraid to see death before them or that their
parent felt that their future was bleak. In fact this is opposite to what the elderly actually
report. However, these beliefs correlated with the children’s own fear of death and dying.
A multiple linear regression with score on proxy-assessment DAS scare as the dependent
variable and age, religiosity, presence of generalized anxiety and depression elderly,
gender, education level, holocaust survivor, level of cognitive problems and functional
status of parent, and age and religiosity of child were the independent variables. Only the
presence of generalized anxiety and religiosity of parent was able to explain 33.6% of the
variance.

Zhang, J., Peng, J., Gao, P. et al., (2019), article was based on Relationship
between meaning in Life and Death Anxiety in the Elderly: Self-Esteem as a Mediator.
Participants comprised a convenience sample of 294 older adults (124 men, 42.1%; 170
women, 57.9%) recruited from four large communities. Data were collected in
community centers. Participants ranged from 65 to 73 years. All participants were
married and retired. Data were collected via the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, the
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Death Anxiety Scale. Results show that the
dimensions of meaning in life, presence of meaning (r = − 0.43, p < 0.01), search for
meaning (r = − 0.31, p < 0.01), and self-esteem (r = − 0.54, p < 0.01) were each negatively
correlated with death anxiety. Regression analysis reveals that meaning in life
significantly predicted self-esteem and death anxiety (F = 45.70, p < 0.01; R2 = 0.33).
Path analysis indicated that self-esteem either completely or partially mediated the effects
of meaning in life on death anxiety in older adults.

James A. Thorson, F.C. Powell, (October, 2012), Death anxiety in Younger and
Older Adults data was drawn from two samples, one of younger adults 16 to 35 years of
age, and from older people—a group ranging in age from 65 to 92 years. There were 215
males and 363 females in the younger sample, and 123 males and 130 females in the
older sample. Both samples completed paper-and-pencil versions of the Revised Death
Anxiety Scale, the scale of Intrinsic Religious Motivation, and the Center for
Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale. Older people were much lower than younger
people in death anxiety and depression in a large, heterogeneous sample, and they were
also much higher in religiosity. Death anxiety scores were related in a logical way to
scores on other psychological tests; those with higher death anxiety were higher in
depression, those with higher religiosity scores were lower in death anxiety.

Victor G, Cicirelli Ph. D, (2003), Older Adults’ Fear and Acceptance of Death: A
Transition Model. Study participants were 109 elders (93 women and 16 men; 68 Whites
and 41 African Americans) ranging in age from 70 to 79 years (M=80.7 years; SD=6.9
years). A transition model of fear of death in older adults is proposed, in which increased
fear of death is predicted for elders in their late seventies or early eighties, evoked by the
conflict or tension between the urge to survive and the awareness of limited survival time.
This fear prompts coping efforts, with cognitive and emotional reorganization leading to
decreased fear and increased acceptance of death. In addition to earlier analysis showing
increased fear of death in the transition period, qualitative analysis of open ended
interview protocols identified use of denial and suppression by younger participants,
various coping strategies by those in their late 70’s and early 80’s and increased
acceptance of death by older participants.

Stephen J. Depaola, Melody Griffin, et al., (2010) Death Anxiety and Attitudes
Toward the Elderly Among Older Adults: The Role of Gender and Ethnicity. The article
investigated the relationship between death anxiety, attitudes toward older adults, and
personal anxiety toward one's own aging in a group of 197 older men and women. As
predicted, negative attitudes toward other older adults were predicted by personal
anxieties about aging and death, and, more specifically, fear of the unknown. In addition,
several distinctive anxieties were noted for particular subgroups of respondents. Older
women scored higher on the Fear of the Dead subscale of the Multidimensional Fear of
Death Scale (MFODS) than did men. Caucasian participants displayed higher Fear of the
Dying Process than did older African American participants. Lastly, older African
American participants reported higher levels of death anxiety on 3 of the subscales of the
Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (Fear of the Unknown, Fear of Conscious Death,
and Fear for the Body after Death) when compared with older Caucasian participants and
also tended to accord less social value to the elderly. These findings are interpreted in
terms of patterns of socialization, and their implications for end-of-life care preferences
are noted.

Jeannette E., Lillian M. Range, (1990), Life Satisfaction and Death Anxiety in
Elderly Nursing Home and Public Housing Residents. To compare life satisfaction and
death anxiety in older adults, 30 elderly residents of a public housing apartment complex
and 20 nursing home residents completed the Death Anxiety Scale, the Philadelphia
Geriatric Center Morale Scale, and a structured interview. Nursing home residents more
frequently reported that in five years they expected to be dead, whereas public housing
residents more frequently reported that in five years they would be doing about the same
thing or nothing. The two groups did not differ on their reported death anxiety or life
satisfaction. However, across both groups, those reporting higher life satisfaction also
reported lower death anxiety and a more positive attitude toward growing older. It
appears that, for the elderly individuals in this study, place of residence was not related to
their expression of life satisfaction or death anxiety.