Religiousness, Religious Doubt, and Death Anxiety

Abstract

Terror Management Theory (TMT) (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986) suggests that culturally-provided worldviews (e.g., religion) may protect individuals from experiencing death anxiety, and several studies have supported this position. However, if one's worldview can offer protection, doubts concerning one's worldview could undermine this protection. The current study investigated whether age, gender, religiousness, and religious doubt were associated with death anxiety. Using data from 635 younger, middle-aged, and older adults, a structural equation model with age, gender, religiousness, and religious doubt predicting death anxiety was tested. The model had a good fit (χ2 (76) = 193.467, p < .001; GFI = .961, CFI = .976, TLI = .967, RMSEA = .049) and accounted for 12.3% of the variance in death anxiety. Results were consistent with TMT, as religiousness was inversely associated with death anxiety, while religious doubt was positively associated with death anxiety.