The Understanding of Death and Dying in a Life-Span Perspective

Fifty-four men and women from across the adult life span wrote two-page essays about death and dying. Content coding assessed the extent to which essays were concerned with death or dying (i.e., as a subject of discussion) and self, others, or more abstract conceptions (i.e., referent), as well as levels of impact, involvement, and acceptance. Structural analysis revealed that for both genders discussions of death were both more frequent and more complex than were discussions of dying, and individuals referred to others more often and in more simplistic terms than to self. The middle-aged writers placed greater emphasis on dying. All discussions were characterized by high impact and involvement and low levels of acceptance.