Religiosity and Death Anxiety: No Association in Kuwait

Abstract

In a sample of 162 Kuwaiti college students (33 men, 129 women; M age = 20.1 yr., SD = 1.9), the mean scores on the death anxiety scales by Templer, Abdel-Khalek, and the Collett-Lester were higher than that in an American sample, except for one subscale of the Collett-Lester Scale, i.e., Dying of Self. Based on the relatively collectivistic culture, it seems that the present participants did not differentiate between the “self” and the “other” in death anxiety, in which all scales were rated high in general. The scores on these scales were not significantly correlated with those on the Hoge Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale, or single-item selfrating measures of religiosity and strength of religious belief.