Jung Jong Hyun
1 School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Res Aging. 2018 Dec;40(10):956-977. doi: 10.1177/0164027518805190. Epub 2018 Oct 8.
Research suggests that religion plays a critical role in individuals' attitudes toward death in later life. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether a previously unexamined aspect of religion-secure attachment to God-is associated with death anxiety among U.S. older adults and whether this association varies across race. Using longitudinal data from a representative sample of adults aged 65 and older ( N = 936), the analyses reveal that secure attachment to God is associated with a decrease in death anxiety over time. Furthermore, the negative association between secure attachment to God and change in death anxiety is greater for older Blacks than their White counterparts. These results indicate that religion serves a protective function against death anxiety in later life. Moreover, religion provides greater psychological benefits for older Blacks than older Whites, reinforcing a long-standing claim that religion is particularly valuable for individuals from marginalized backgrounds.
研究表明，宗教在个体晚年对死亡的态度中起着关键作用。本研究的目的是调查宗教中一个此前未被研究的方面——对上帝的安全依恋——是否与美国老年人的死亡焦虑相关，以及这种关联是否因种族而异。利用来自65岁及以上成年人代表性样本（N = 936）的纵向数据，分析显示，对上帝的安全依恋与死亡焦虑随时间的减少相关。此外，与白人相比，老年黑人中对上帝的安全依恋与死亡焦虑变化之间的负相关更强。这些结果表明，宗教在晚年对死亡焦虑起到保护作用。此外，宗教为老年黑人提供了比老年白人更大的心理益处，强化了一个长期存在的观点，即宗教对来自边缘化背景的个体特别有价值。
