Death Anxiety Among Institutionalised and Non–Institutionalised Elderly Widows and  Widower

Ms Deepa M Rasquinha; Dr Y T Balakrishna Acharya

Volume : I, Issue : V, October - 2012

Death Anxiety Among Institutionalised and Non–Institutionalised Elderly Widows and Widower

Ms Deepa M Rasquinha, Dr Y T Balakrishna Acharya

Abstract :

Death is very near in old age, hence a logical belief would be that death anxiety is more among the aged in comparison to the youngsters. However, studies contradict this notion. The age of 60 or 65 years in most developed countries is said to be the beginning of old age. The study aims to find differences in death anxiety among institutionalised and non institutionalised elderly widows and widowers. The sample consisted of 60 institutionalised and 60 non–institutionalised elderly who were further divided into 30 widows and 30 widowers from both the sectors. Death Anxiety scale developed by Templer consisting of 15 items was administered to the sample. The data collected was statistically analyzed using two way ANOVA. Results indicated that there was no difference in death anxiety among institutionalized and non institutionalised elderly. No significant difference in death anxiety was found among elderly widows and widowers.