Death Anxiety, State and Trait Anxiety in Kuwaitian Samples

Abstract

200 male and 277 female undergraduates at the University of Kuwait completed the Templer's Death Anxiety Scale and Spielberger, et al.'s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for which retest reliabilities were adequate. Women had higher mean scores than men on death and trait anxiety but they were similar in state anxiety. The mean death anxiety score for Kuwaitians was very close to that of Egyptians. There was similarity in death anxiety between Kuwaitian and United States men, but not women. Significant differences appeared on trait anxiety, showing the order from low to high mean scores: United States, Kuwaitian, and Egyptian university students. Correlations among the scales were significant; however, the correlation between state and trait anxiety was higher than that between death anxiety and both state and trait anxiety for men and women. Death anxiety was associated more closely with trait than with state anxiety.