How to Deal With Death: An Empirical Path Analysis of a Simplified Model of Death Anxiety

How anxious are you about dying? According to Tomer and Eliason, this depends on various personal circumstances, which they identified in their model on death anxiety. This study aims to verify various aspects of Tomer and Eliason's theoretical model. We therefore collected data from 652 German participants about demographic variables, religiosity, life satisfaction, death acceptance, and death anxiety. We then conducted a path analysis in order to verify whether the empirical data supported the theoretical model. Our results demonstrate a very good model fit, indicating that the analyzed model is valid and can be maintained. Further mediation analysis demonstrates the specific relations of variables within the model and their influence on death anxiety.