Death Anxiety,Death Depression,Death Distress,and Death Discomfort Differential: Adolescent-Parental Correlations in Filipino and American Populations

In both an American and Filipino population considerable family resemblance in death anxiety, death depression, and death distress was found. In both populations the death attitude measures of adolescents correlated with those of their parents, but the correlations were higher between the mothers and fathers. Most of the correlations were higher for the Filipino than for the American participants, and it was suggested that this is a function of closer family life in the Philippines. Although family resemblance on the Death Anxiety Scale was first reported by Templer, Ruff, and Franks [1] and confirmed by subsequent authors, the present study was the first study that addressed family resemblance on the more recently constructed Death Depression Scale or death distress (the sum of the z scores of Death Anxiety Scale and Death Depression Scale). In the American population, Catholics had significantly higher death anxiety and death depression and death distress scores than Protestants, and Hispanics had significantly higher death anxiety, death depression, and death distress scores than Euro-Americans. Clinical and research implications were discussed.