This study investigates how one’s ability to accept the past contributes to death attitudes within the elderly population. 115 individuals (47 men and 68 women) participated by filling out self-report questionnaire packets collected from a variety of residential settings. The Death Attitudes Profile – Revised (DAP-R) was used to assess the individuals attitude towards death and the Ability to Accept the Past scale (ACPAST) was used as a measure of ego integrity. A linear regression analysis was used to determine the predictive relationship between the two variables. The results indicate that scores on the ACPAST are significant predictors of DAP-R subscales Neutral Acceptance Fear of Death and Death Avoidance. The results did not show a significant relationship between the scores on the ACPAST and the DAP-R subscales Approach Acceptance or Escape Acceptance. Thus, the ability to accept the past was a significant predictor of Fear of Death, Death Avoidance, and Neutral Acceptance. Yet, accepting the past was not a significant predictor of Approach Acceptance or Escape Acceptance.
| Published in | American Journal of Applied Psychology (Volume 2, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajap.20130201.12 |
| Page(s) | 7-15 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2013. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Death Attitudes, Psychotherapy, Geropsychology, Ego Integrity
| [1] | American Psychological Association (2004). What Practi-tioners Should Know about working with Older Adults. Washington, D.C. |
| [2] | Ames D; Ashby D; Mann AH; Graham N. (Jul 1988). Psy-chiatric illness in elderly residents of Part III homes in one London Borough: prognosis and review. Age Ageing, 17, 249-256. |
| [3] | Beck, A. (1967). Depression. New York: Harper & Row. |
| [4] | Bengtson,V. L., Cuellar, J. B., & Ragan, P. K. (1977). Stra-tum contrasts and similarities in attitudes toward death. Journal of Gerentology, 32, 76-88. |
| [5] | Butler, R.N. (1963). The life review: An interpretation of reminiscence in the aged. Psychiatry, 26, 65-76. |
| [6] | Cicirelli, V. G. (2002). Fear of death in older adults: Predic-tions from terror management theory. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 57B, P358-P366. |
| [7] | Cicirelli, V.G. (1997). Relationship of psychosocial and background variables to older adults’ end of life decisions. Psychology & Aging, 12, 72-83. |
| [8] | Clements, R., & Rooda, L.A. (1999-2000). Factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Death Attitude Profile – Revised. Omega: Journal of Death & Dying. 40, 453-563. |
| [9] | Cumming, E. & Henry, W.H. (1961). Growing old: The process of disengagement. New York: Basic Books. |
| [10] | Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and society (2nd Ed.). New York: W.W.Norton. |
| [11] | Erikson, E. H. (1980). Idenity and the life cycle. New York: W.W. Norton. |
| [12] | Erikson, E. H. (1982). The life cycle completed. New York: W.W. Norton. |
| [13] | Fortner, B.V., & Neimeyer, R. A. (1999). Death anxiety in older adults: A quantitative review. Death Studies, 23, 387-411. |
| [14] | Frankl, V.E. (1966). Self-transcendence as a human pheno-menon. Journal of HumanisticPsychology, 6, 97-106. |
| [15] | Frankl, V.E. (1973). The doctor and the soul: From psycho-therapy to logotherapy. Pelican, Harmondsworth. |
| [16] | Frankl, V. E. (1992). Man’s search for meaning: An intro-duction to logotherapy. Boston: Beacon Press (Originally published in 1959). |
| [17] | Fry, P. (1983). Structured and unstructured reminiscence training and depression among the elderly. Clinical Geron-tologist, 1 (3), 15-37. |
| [18] | Fry, P. (1991). Individual differences in reminiscing among older adults: Predictors of frequency and pleasantness ratings of reminiscence activity. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 33, 311-326. |
| [19] | Gesser, G., Wong, P. T. P., & Reker, G. T. (198771988). Death attitudes across the life-span: The development and validation of the Death Attitude Profile. Omega,18,113-128. |
| [20] | Goodman, L. M. (1981). Death and the creative life: Con-versations with eminent artists and scientists as they reflect on life and death. New York: Springer. |
| [21] | Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time. London: SCM Press LTD. (Original work published 1927). |
| [22] | James, J.B., & Zarrett, N., (2005). Ego integrity in the lives of older women: A follow-up of Mothers from the Sears, Maccoby, and Levin (1951) Patterns of child rearing study. Journal of Adult Development, 12(4), 155-167. |
| [23] | Kalish, R. A. (1977).The role of age in death attitudes. Death Education, 1, 205-230. |
| [24] | Kazdin, A. E. (2003) Research design in clinical psychology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. |
| [25] | Langle, A. (2001). Old age from an existential-analytical perspective. Psychological Reports, 89, 211-215. |
| [26] | LoGerfo, M. (1980). Three ways of reminiscence in theory and practice. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 12, 39-48. |
| [27] | Mannarino, M.B., Eliason, G., and Rubin, J. (2008). Regret therapy: Coping with death and end of life issues. In Tomer, A., Eliason, G., & Wong, P.T.P., Existential and spiritual is-sues in death attitudes. New York: Taylor & Francis. |
| [28] | Merriam, S. (1993). Butler’s life review: How universal is it? International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 37 (3), 163-175. |
| [29] | Neimeyer, R. A. (1985). Actualization, integration and fear of death: A test of the additive model. Death Studies, 9, 235-250. |
| [30] | Neimeyer, R.A. & Fortner, B. (1997). Death attitudes in contemporary perspective. In Strack, S. (Ed.) Death and the quest for meaning: Essays in honor of Herman. |
| [31] | Feifel (pp. 3-29). Northvale, NJ: Jason Avonson. |
| [32] | Neimeyer, R. A., Wittkowski, J. & Moser, R., (2004). Psy-chological research on death attitudes: An overview and evaluation. Death Studies, 28: 309-340, 2004. |
| [33] | Reimer, S.E. (2007). A test of a model of positive and nega-tive death attitudes among family caregivers of the elderly. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Ohio State University, Ohio. |
| [34] | Robinson, P. J., &Wood, K. (1984). Fear of death and phys-ical illness. In F. Epting & R. A. Neimeyer (Eds.), Personal meanings of death (pp. 127-142).Washington, DC: Hemis-phere. |
| [35] | Ruble, D. N., Costanzo, P. R., & Higgins, E. T. (1992). So-cial psychological foundations of mental health. In D. N. Ruble, P. R. Costanzo, & M. Oliveri (Eds.), The social psy-chology of mental health: Basic mechanisms and applications. New York, NY: The Guilford Press. |
| [36] | Ryff, C., & Heincke, S.G. (1983). Subjective organization of personality in adulthood and aging. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719-727. |
| [37] | Rylands, K.J., & Rickwood, D.J. (2001). Ego-integrity vs. ego-despair: The effect of"accepting the past" on depression in older women. International Journal of Aging and Human Development. 53 (1), 75-89. |
| [38] | Santor, D.A., & Zuroff, D.C., (1994). Depressive symptoms: Effects of negative affectivity and accepting the past. Journal of Personality Assessment, 63(2), 294-312. |
| [39] | Sartre, J.P., 1966. Being and nothingness: An essay on phe-nomenological ontology. New York: Citadel Press. (original work published 1943). |
| [40] | Stevens, S. J., Cooper, P. E., & Thomas, L. E. (1980). Age norms for Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale. Psychological Reports, 46, 205-206. |
| [41] | Thorson, J. A., & Powell, F. C. (1994). A revised death an-xiety scale. In R.A. Neimeyer (Ed.), Death anxiety handbook: Research, instrumentation, and application. Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis. |
| [42] | Thorson, J. A., & Powell, F. C. (1989). Death anxiety and religion in an older male sample. Psychological Reports, 64, 985-986. |
| [43] | Tomer, A., & Eliason, G., (2008). Regret and death attitudes. In Tomer, A., Eliason, G., & Wong, P.T.P., Existential and spiritual issues in death attitudes. New York: Taylor & Fran-cis. |
| [44] | U.S. Bureau of the Census (2010). The older population in the United States (P20-564). Washington DC: Bureau of the Census. |
| [45] | Wagner, K.D., Lorion, R.P., and T.E. Shipley. (1983) Insom-nia and psychosocial crisis: Two studies of Erikson’s deve-lopmental theory. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psy-chology 51(4), 595-603. |
| [46] | Whalaskay, M., Whitbourne, M.K., & Nehrke, M.F. (1983-1984). Construction and validation of an ego integrity status interview. International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 18, 61-62. |
| [47] | Wong, P.T.P. (2008). Meaning management theory and death acceptance. In Tomer, A., Eliason, G., & Wong, P.T.P., Exis-tential and spiritual issues in death attitudes. New York: Taylor & Francis. |
| [48] | Wong, P.T.P. (2000). Meaning of life and meaning of death in successful aging. In A. Tomer (Ed.), Death attitudes and the older adult: Theories, concepts and applications (pp. 23-36). Washington, DC: Taylor-Francis. |
| [49] | Wong, P. T.P, Reker, G. T., & Gesser, G. (1994). Death atti-tude profile--revised: A multidimensional measure of attitudes toward death. In R. A. Neimeyer (Ed.). |
| [50] | Death anxiety handbook: Research, instrumentation, and application. (pp. 121-148). Philadelphia, PA: Taylor & Fran-cis. |
| [51] | Yalom, I.D. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. New York. Basic Books. |
APA Style
Daniel W. Parker. (2013). The Relationship Between Ego Integrity and Death Attitudes in Older Adults. American Journal of Applied Psychology, 2(1), 7-15. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20130201.12
ACS Style
Daniel W. Parker. The Relationship Between Ego Integrity and Death Attitudes in Older Adults. Am. J. Appl. Psychol. 2013, 2(1), 7-15. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20130201.12
AMA Style
Daniel W. Parker. The Relationship Between Ego Integrity and Death Attitudes in Older Adults. Am J Appl Psychol. 2013;2(1):7-15. doi: 10.11648/j.ajap.20130201.12
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.ajap.20130201.12,
author = {Daniel W. Parker},
title = {The Relationship Between Ego Integrity and Death Attitudes in Older Adults},
journal = {American Journal of Applied Psychology},
volume = {2},
number = {1},
pages = {7-15},
doi = {10.11648/j.ajap.20130201.12},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20130201.12},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajap.20130201.12},
abstract = {This study investigates how one’s ability to accept the past contributes to death attitudes within the elderly population. 115 individuals (47 men and 68 women) participated by filling out self-report questionnaire packets collected from a variety of residential settings. The Death Attitudes Profile – Revised (DAP-R) was used to assess the individuals attitude towards death and the Ability to Accept the Past scale (ACPAST) was used as a measure of ego integrity. A linear regression analysis was used to determine the predictive relationship between the two variables. The results indicate that scores on the ACPAST are significant predictors of DAP-R subscales Neutral Acceptance Fear of Death and Death Avoidance. The results did not show a significant relationship between the scores on the ACPAST and the DAP-R subscales Approach Acceptance or Escape Acceptance. Thus, the ability to accept the past was a significant predictor of Fear of Death, Death Avoidance, and Neutral Acceptance. Yet, accepting the past was not a significant predictor of Approach Acceptance or Escape Acceptance.},
year = {2013}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - The Relationship Between Ego Integrity and Death Attitudes in Older Adults AU - Daniel W. Parker Y1 - 2013/01/20 PY - 2013 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20130201.12 DO - 10.11648/j.ajap.20130201.12 T2 - American Journal of Applied Psychology JF - American Journal of Applied Psychology JO - American Journal of Applied Psychology SP - 7 EP - 15 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2328-5672 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajap.20130201.12 AB - This study investigates how one’s ability to accept the past contributes to death attitudes within the elderly population. 115 individuals (47 men and 68 women) participated by filling out self-report questionnaire packets collected from a variety of residential settings. The Death Attitudes Profile – Revised (DAP-R) was used to assess the individuals attitude towards death and the Ability to Accept the Past scale (ACPAST) was used as a measure of ego integrity. A linear regression analysis was used to determine the predictive relationship between the two variables. The results indicate that scores on the ACPAST are significant predictors of DAP-R subscales Neutral Acceptance Fear of Death and Death Avoidance. The results did not show a significant relationship between the scores on the ACPAST and the DAP-R subscales Approach Acceptance or Escape Acceptance. Thus, the ability to accept the past was a significant predictor of Fear of Death, Death Avoidance, and Neutral Acceptance. Yet, accepting the past was not a significant predictor of Approach Acceptance or Escape Acceptance. VL - 2 IS - 1 ER -
Email: