Death Concern and Religious Beliefs among Gays and Bisexuals of Variable Proximity to Aids

Abstract

In view of the high mortality rates associated with a diagnosis of AIDS, we investigated gay and bisexual (G/B) men's levels of death fear and threat and their relation to religiosity. Participants were grouped into three categories: forty-three who were seropositive for HIV (the HIV+ group), sixty-eight who were seronegative but who were involved as volunteers or professionals in AIDS hospices, wards or organizations (the AIDS-involved group), and fifty-five who had no direct involvement in AIDS other than their risk group membership (the uninvolved group). We found that 1) the HIV+ group reported greater fear of premature death, 2) the AIDS involved group demonstrated significantly lower levels of death concern than the other two groups, and 3) both the involved and HIV+ groups reported higher levels of religious belief than the uninvolved group of G/B men. Finally, intrinsic religious orientation was negatively related to both overall death threat as measured by the Threat Index and fears specific to the possibility of an afterlife, but not to other components of death concern as measured by the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale.