Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2018 Apr 16;73(4):696-703. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbw039.
The purpose of this study is to see whether feelings of death anxiety are lower among older than among younger people. In addition, an effort is made to see whether religious hope explains this relationship. It is proposed that the inverse relationship between a religiously oriented sense of hope and death anxiety increases across successively older age-groups. In contrast, it is hypothesized that the relationship between a generalized sense of hope and death anxiety will not vary across successively older age-groups.
Data on religious hope, a general sense of hope, and death anxiety were obtained from a recent nationwide survey of people aged 18 and older (N = 2,783).
The findings suggest that, compared with older adults, feelings of death anxiety are higher among younger and middle-aged people. The results further reveal that a religious sense of hope, but not a general sense of hope, reduces feelings of death anxiety across successively older age-groups.
These findings suggest that a previously unexamined dimension of religion (i.e., religious hope) may help people cope with feelings of death anxiety.
本研究旨在探讨老年人的死亡焦虑感是否低于年轻人。此外，还努力研究宗教希望是否可以解释这种关系。据推测，宗教导向的希望感与死亡焦虑感之间的反比关系会随着年龄的增长而逐渐增加。相反，假设一般希望感与死亡焦虑感之间的关系不会因年龄的增长而有所不同。
从最近一项针对 18 岁及以上人群的全国性调查中获得了关于宗教希望、一般希望感和死亡焦虑感的数据（N=2783）。
研究结果表明，与老年人相比，年轻人和中年人感到死亡焦虑的程度更高。研究结果进一步表明，宗教希望感（而非一般希望感）会随着年龄的增长逐渐降低死亡焦虑感。
这些发现表明，宗教的一个以前未被研究的维度（即宗教希望）可能有助于人们应对死亡焦虑感。
