<p>Success and Structure of Coping with the Fear of Personal Death</p>

Abstract

Aim of the current research was to explore success and essence of coping with the fear of personal death. The study was conducted on a sample of University and college students aged 15 to 20 years (N= 177; 83 males and 94 females) using the Death Attitude Profile – Revisited (DAP-R) by P.T.P. Wong and co-authors and Coping with Death Reactions (CDR) questionnaire by T.A. Gavrilova and S.A. Popova. “Fear of Death” scale of DAP-R was used as a measure of the fear of personal death. Other DAP-R scales (“Death avoidance”, “Neutral acceptance”, “Approach acceptance” and “Escape acceptance”) and the level of each of the coping with death reactions as measured by CDR  were used as indicators of coping mechanisms. It has been shown that strategies of coping with the fear of personal death were gender specific and that females were more successful and adaptive in this regards. According to DAP-R, fear of personal death in males had moderate positive correlations with “Death avoidance” and “Approach acceptance” and was not correlated with “Neutral acceptance”. In females, fear of personal death was negatively correlated with “Neutral acceptance of death” and positively correlated with “Death avoidance” and “Approach acceptance of death” and not correlated with “Escape acceptance of death”. According to CDR, fear of personal death in males had moderate negative with the avoidance reaction; in females, fear of personal death had moderate negative correlations with the neutral acceptance reaction. Negative (suicidal) and positive (life-asserting) effects of the fear of personal death are discussed.