Toward a comprehensive model of death anxiety

Abstract

An integrative, comprehensive model of death anxiety is presented. The model postulates three immediate antecedents of death anxiety: past-related regret, future-related regret, and meaningfulness of death. Past-related regret refers to a person's unfulfilled aspirations that should have been achieved but were not. Future-related regret refers to the anticipation that, as a result of premature death, one cannot achieve important goals in the future. Meaningfulness of death refers to one's concept of death and ability to make sense of it. These three antecedents are related to death salience in a complex way, mediated by coping mechanisms and their effects on one's beliefs about self and the world. The coping mechanisms include (but are not necessarily limited to) life review, life planning, identification with culture, and self-transcending processes. The model's developmental and practical applications are explored.