ABSTRACT
On a practical level, studying death anxiety in older adults could suggest ways to improve the quality of life for this rapidly growing segment of the population. For example, individual studies suggest that living circumstances, psychological problems, and physical problems predict higher levels of death anxiety in elderly people. Theories of late life psychological development, which emphasize increased maturity with age, would predict less death anxiety. Foremost among them is Erikson’s theory emphasizing that healthy individuals move toward a greater acceptance of their past and, as a consequence, their mortality. Although they do not directly address death anxiety, other theories also posit a number of changes that would predispose older adults to being less fearful of death. Due to the large representation of participants in institutional settings compared to the general population of older adults, the overall findings may say more about the factors that contribute to death anxiety in this segment of the population.
