Fear of Death in People of Mature Age with Christian Self-Identification
One of the most important functions of religion is to fill the deficits in the existence of human society, among which an important place is occupied by the awareness of human mortality. According to psychological theories, religion often appears as one of the adaptive strategies that alleviate the...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)
2022-12-01
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| Series: | RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.rudn.ru/psychology-pedagogics/article/viewFile/32247/21262 |
| _version_ | 1817979325614391296 |
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| author | Anastasia A. Bakanova Irina A. Gorkovaya |
| author_facet | Anastasia A. Bakanova Irina A. Gorkovaya |
| author_sort | Anastasia A. Bakanova |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | One of the most important functions of religion is to fill the deficits in the existence of human society, among which an important place is occupied by the awareness of human mortality. According to psychological theories, religion often appears as one of the adaptive strategies that alleviate the fear of death. However, both domestic and foreign empirical studies of the relationship between religiosity and the severity of the fear of death lead to contradictory results, which is associated with the need to take into account a large number of variables in such studies, as well as a non-linear relationship between religion and the fear of death. The authors have made an attempt to study the relationship between Christian self-identification with the conscious components of the fear of death in 118 men and women at different periods of adulthood (40-50 and 51-65 years). The conscious components of the fear of death were assessed on the Personal Death Fear Scale, and attitudes toward death (in particular, the features of experiencing the fear of death and ways to cope with it) were identified in phenomenological interviews. The data were processed using Mann - Whitney U test, correlation analysis, and phenomenological analysis of interviews. The study has shown that Christian religious self-identification in adulthood is positively correlated with the conscious fear of death, and also has age and gender specificity. In general, it is concluded that, in order to explain the relationship between Christian self-identification and the conscious fear of death, it is necessary to analyze the role that the religious worldview plays in people's understanding of their life path. Based on the results of the study, it can be assumed that the leading motive in choosing a Christian worldview is not so much overcoming the fear of personal death as the search for effective ways to cope with difficult life situations. That is why Christian self-identification does not contribute to reducing the fear of personal death, responding to a greater extent to other motives related to the need to “cope with life.” To sum up, the authors show that religiosity is not a universal tool that can unequivocally reduce the fear of death. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T22:41:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f29261bc9aad440ca13a4e97b8e64755 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2313-1683 2313-1705 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T22:41:25Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogics |
| spelling | doaj.art-f29261bc9aad440ca13a4e97b8e647552022-12-22T02:26:36ZengPeoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogics2313-16832313-17052022-12-0119355057210.22363/2313-1683-2022-19-3-550-57220919Fear of Death in People of Mature Age with Christian Self-IdentificationAnastasia A. Bakanova0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5062-6210Irina A. Gorkovaya1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1488-4746Herzen State Pedagogical University of RussiaSt. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical UniversityOne of the most important functions of religion is to fill the deficits in the existence of human society, among which an important place is occupied by the awareness of human mortality. According to psychological theories, religion often appears as one of the adaptive strategies that alleviate the fear of death. However, both domestic and foreign empirical studies of the relationship between religiosity and the severity of the fear of death lead to contradictory results, which is associated with the need to take into account a large number of variables in such studies, as well as a non-linear relationship between religion and the fear of death. The authors have made an attempt to study the relationship between Christian self-identification with the conscious components of the fear of death in 118 men and women at different periods of adulthood (40-50 and 51-65 years). The conscious components of the fear of death were assessed on the Personal Death Fear Scale, and attitudes toward death (in particular, the features of experiencing the fear of death and ways to cope with it) were identified in phenomenological interviews. The data were processed using Mann - Whitney U test, correlation analysis, and phenomenological analysis of interviews. The study has shown that Christian religious self-identification in adulthood is positively correlated with the conscious fear of death, and also has age and gender specificity. In general, it is concluded that, in order to explain the relationship between Christian self-identification and the conscious fear of death, it is necessary to analyze the role that the religious worldview plays in people's understanding of their life path. Based on the results of the study, it can be assumed that the leading motive in choosing a Christian worldview is not so much overcoming the fear of personal death as the search for effective ways to cope with difficult life situations. That is why Christian self-identification does not contribute to reducing the fear of personal death, responding to a greater extent to other motives related to the need to “cope with life.” To sum up, the authors show that religiosity is not a universal tool that can unequivocally reduce the fear of death.https://journals.rudn.ru/psychology-pedagogics/article/viewFile/32247/21262religious identitychristianityfear of deathconscious componentscoping |
| spellingShingle | Anastasia A. Bakanova Irina A. Gorkovaya Fear of Death in People of Mature Age with Christian Self-Identification RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogics religious identity christianity fear of death conscious components coping |
| title | Fear of Death in People of Mature Age with Christian Self-Identification |
| title_full | Fear of Death in People of Mature Age with Christian Self-Identification |
| title_fullStr | Fear of Death in People of Mature Age with Christian Self-Identification |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fear of Death in People of Mature Age with Christian Self-Identification |
| title_short | Fear of Death in People of Mature Age with Christian Self-Identification |
| title_sort | fear of death in people of mature age with christian self identification |
| topic | religious identity christianity fear of death conscious components coping |
| url | https://journals.rudn.ru/psychology-pedagogics/article/viewFile/32247/21262 |
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