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Gender difference about death anxiety among older adults: Structural Equation Model
Author(s) -
Adelirad Fatemeh,
Sabahiazar Khadijeh,
AsghariJafarabadi Mohammad,
Namjoo Shamsedin,
Chattu Vijay Kumar,
Allahverdipour Hamid
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
psychogeriatrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.647
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1479-8301
pISSN - 1346-3500
DOI - 10.1111/psyg.12663
Subject(s) - death anxiety , anxiety , structural equation modeling , clinical psychology , psychology , social support , medicine , cause of death , nonprobability sampling , psychiatry , disease , population , social psychology , statistics , mathematics , environmental health
Background Older adults may be more prone to death anxiety than their younger counterparts. This study explores factors affecting death anxiety based on gender differences. Methods In this correlational study, 450 older adults referred to the health centres in the city of Bukan, Iran were recruited by using a randomised sampling method. Next, data were collected about the demographic questionnaire, anxiety about ageing, death anxiety, mental well‐being, perceived social support, and quality of life questionnaire. The Spearman correlation coefficient was used to determine the correlation between variables, and the predictors of death anxiety were evaluated using quintile regression. Relationship between death anxiety and other variables was evaluated by the Structural Equation Model (SEM). The study was approved by the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Ethics Committee (Ethics Code: IR.TBZMED.REC.1397.304). Results The results showed that death anxiety in men had a significant relationship with the level of literacy ( P = 0.047), body self‐imaging ( P = 0.031), and perceived social activity ( P = 0.033). Among women, death anxiety had a significant relationship with physical activity ( P = 0.007) and perceived social activity ( P = 0.002). Additionally, quintile regression analysis was calculated: among men, anxiety about ageing was related to death anxiety (β = 0.182, P = 0.05), while in women, only perceived social support was associated to death anxiety (β = −0.376, P = 0.05). Finally, according to SEM, a significantly different level of predictability of mental well‐being was found for death anxiety among older men and women. Conclusion Understanding the gender differences about death anxiety by the healthcare system might be useful in controlling and reducing a variety of concerns among elders who experience high levels of anxiety of death.