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Abstract
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In a sample of 1,145 university students in China found that those who had planned for suicide in the past had less death anxiety than nonsuicidal students, those who had suicidal ideation in the past or those who had made attempts at suicide in the past.
There has been interest in whether those who are suicidal have a reduced fear of death or lower death anxiety than non-suicidal people. For example, Goldney (1982) compared 103 young adult women who had attempted suicide with nonsuicidal women and found no differences in death anxiety. For the attempted suicides, higher current suicidal intent was associated with less death anxiety. Tarter, et al. (1974) found no differences in death anxiety and the lethality of suicide attempts in 50 attempted suicides, nor between first-time attempters and multiple attempters. In contrast, D'Attilio and Campbell (1990) studied 62 adolescents aged 16- 20 found that higher death anxiety was associated with higher scores on a suicide probability scale. There may be sex differences in these associations. In a sample of Iranian university students, Naderi and Esmaili (2009) found that the men had higher scores on a measure of suicidal ideation along with lower scores on a measure of death anxiety. However, the researchers did not correlate scores on these two measures.
Death anxiety is theoretically associated with past and current suicidal behavior in Joiner's Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (Joiner, 2005). This theory proposes that the occurrence of suicide depends on two psychological dimensions: thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness. Those who think that they are a burden to their significant others and also have their interpersonal relationships disrupted are more likely to contemplate, plan and attempt suicide, even successfully. However, a third factor must be present, the acquired capability to engage in self-harm. This capability is dependent on previous experiences of pain and risk-taking and also a reduced fear of death, and Joiner and his colleagues devised a scale to measure this reduced fear of death (ACSS-FAD).
This scale has produced mixed results for its reliability and validity.
Language: en |