Death anxiety encompasses the fears, thoughts, and emotional distress associated with one’s ownmortality or the process of dying. Among older adults, residential choices—such as living with familyor in institutional care—can significantly shape psychological well-being, social engagement, andperceptions of autonomy. This study investigates the influence of residential setting on death anxietyamong older adults by comparing individuals residing in old age homes with those living in familyenvironments. Data were collected using the Death Anxiety Scale developed by Dhar, Mehta, and Dhar(1998), and responses from 180 participants were analyzed through Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) ata 0.01 significance level. Findings indicate significant differences based on both residence and gender.Older adults living with family reported higher levels of death anxiety (M = 6.62, SD = 6.28) than theirinstitutionalized counterparts (M = 5.78, SD = 3.84). Gender differences also emerged, with malesdemonstrating higher death anxiety (M = 6.48, SD = 9.22) than females (M = 5.82, SD = 8.54). ANOVAresults confirmed that residence (F = 5.95, p < 0.01) and gender (F = 4.29, p < 0.01) exert significanteffects on death anxiety. The findings suggest that stronger familial attachments, heightened emotionalinvolvement, and perceived dependence may contribute to elevated death anxiety among older adultsliving with family. These results underscore the need to consider residential context when developinginterventions aimed at improving psychological outcomes in later life, and they provide a basis forfurther cross-cultural and longitudinal research on death-related concerns in aging populations.
Singh et al. (2025) studied this question.