Life Satisfaction as a Correlate of Death Anxiety among Elderly

Aging is a natural phenomenon that refers to changes, which occur during the life span and result in differences in structure and function between the youth and the elderly. Traditionally the term elderly has been referred to people who have attained certain age chronologically. Ageing is an inevitable process in which physiological, emotional and mental changes are observed in declining form. It is also known as a closing period of life span. It is "moving away" from more desirable period. Life satisfaction is a sum total of the perception of an individual towards his various aspects of life. It is his life in family, society and the environment he lives in. It is a composite measure comprising of physical, mental and social well being as perceived by each individual or by group of individuals. Life satisfaction includes happiness, satisfaction and gratification as health, marriage, family, work, financial situations, belongingness and trust in others. Life satisfaction of an individual is influenced by various factors. Amongst them death anxiety is one of the major influencing factor. Death anxiety (Thantaphobia) refers to fear and apprehension of one's own death. It is the neurotic fear of loss of the self, which, in intense state, parallels feelings of helplessness and depression. Man's awareness of his own death produces anxiety in him. Death anxiety is feeling of dread, apprehension or solicitude when one thinks of what happens after death, the process of dying or ceasing to be. The study "life satisfaction as a correlate of death anxiety among elderly" was conducted on 360 elderly persons (180 males and 180 females) residing in Punjab state. Only those elderly were selected for the sample who were leading a retired life, were not suffering from any deadly disease, living with their spouses and belonged to middle socio economic status families. Socio-Economic Status Scale developed by Bharadwajwas used to assess the socio economic status of the respondents. Death Anxiety scale by Chouhan and Tiwari and Life satisfaction scale by Alam and Shrivastava were used to assess the death anxiety and life satisfaction of the respondents respectively. The results revealed that significant differences existed in death anxiety and life satisfaction among elderly males and females. A significant and negative correlation between life satisfaction and death anxiety was found indicating that with increase in life satisfaction there is a decrease in death anxiety.