Intensity of Midlife Crisis on Responses to the Death Concern Scale

The relationships that exist between the intensity of midlife crisis and individual items on Dickstein's (1972) Death Concern Scale were explored. The question of whether the intensity of a crisis could be used to predict responses to items on the scale was also investigated. A group of 235 person, 30-60 years of age, completed the scale. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients indicated relationships for 7 of the 30 items on the scale. Using forced-entry regression, with intensity of crisis as the independent variable and the items on the scale as dependent variables, I found 8 scale items with reportable beta scores of .10 or above. The relationships and predictors reflected cognitive and emotional aspects of death.