Measuring Spirituality, Religiosity, and Denial in Individuals Working in Funeral Service to Predict Death Anxiety

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine predictors of death anxiety in U.S. funeral directors/embalmers who were part of a larger study ( n = 234). Backward stepwise multiple regression was conducted to determine whether or not spirituality, intrinsic religiosity, extrinsic religiosity, and denial predicted levels of death anxiety. Results indicated that spirituality along with age of the participants accounted for 19% of the variance of death anxiety, R2 = .190, R2adj = .180, F(2, 168) = 19.64, p < .001. Intrinsic religiosity, extrinsic religiosity, and denial were not significant in the regression model. Several items, however, in the model had a significant positive correlation with each other at the .01 alpha level including spirituality with intrinsic religiosity ( r = .63) and age ( r = .21), and intrinsic religiosity with denial ( r = .22) and age ( r = .24). Other variables correlated negatively with one another at the .01 alpha level. Namely, death anxiety with spirituality (–.38), intrinsic religiosity ( r = –.36), and age (–.28); spirituality with extrinsic religiosity (–.22); intrinsic religiosity with extrinsic religiosity (–.45); and extrinsic religiosity with age ( r = –.19). Limitations of the study and implications for practice were discussed.