Attitudes to Death of Middle-Aged in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
Psychological aspects of the attitude to death in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic are considered. The results of the research characterizing the attitude to death in different countries of the world during coronavirus infection are presented. The results of an empirical psychological study of the Ukrainian medieval group during the "first wave" of COVID-19 are presented. The attitude of people of the studied Ukrainian middle-aged group to the phenomenon of death in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic is ambivalent with a predominance of negative character. For middle-aged people, thoughts about death are not the main thing, thoughts about their own death are ambivalent, and the level of stress resistance associated with thoughts about death is average. People are afraid, in particular, not of death itself and the cessation of its existence, but of the difficult and painful process of dying. It was determined that the attitude to death is related to thoughts about their own death in the study group. An optimistic attitude towards death is associated with positive thoughts about one's own death. The problems of faith in life after death, as well as the influence of religiosity on the fear of death are considered. The presence of more positive metaphors about death, belief in life after death, the possibility of reunion with relatives, wisdom and forgiveness have led to significant differences in the results between groups of believers and atheists. The atheists studied, who are frightened by the loss of the physical world in the phenomenon of death, who imagine earthly life as the only one and believe that those who die feel fear and hopelessness before death, more often chose negative metaphors about their own death. Significant differences were identified between thoughts of death in women and men. Women, unlike men, have more pessimistic thoughts about the phenomenon of death. Women more often than men consider that thinking about death is outrageous and indicate that thoughts of death frighten and traumatize them. Thus, in the spring and summer of 2020, no significant impact of COVID-19 on the anxiety of middle-aged Ukrainians about death was identified. The situation of the second wave of coronavirus infection and the expected third (in early 2021) requires further research on the phenomenon of death in this age group.
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Li, J.B., Yang, A., Dou, K., & Cheung, R.Y.M. (2020). Self-Control Moderates the Association between Perceived Severity of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Mental Health Problems among the Chinese Public. PsyArXiv Preprints. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2xadq
Menzies, R.E. & Menzies, R.G. (2020). Death Anxiety in the Time of COVID-19: Theoretical Explanations and Clinical Implications. The Cognitive Behavior Therapist, 13, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1754470X20000215
Newton-John, T., Chambers, S., Menzies, R.E., & Menzies, R.G. (2020). Psychological Distress and COVID-19: Estimations of Threat and the Relationship with Death Anxiety. Cognitive behavior Therapist, 13. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1754470X20000215
Sinoff, G. (2017). Thanatophobia (Death Anxiety) in the Elderly: The Problem of the Child’s Inability to Assess Their Own Parent’s Death Anxiety State. Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, Department of Gerontology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2017.00011/full#B26.
Tee, M.L, Tee, C.A. & Anlacan, J.P. (2020). Psychological Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines. Journal of Affective Disorders, 277, 379–391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.08.043
Traunmüller, C., Stefitz, R., Gaisbachgrabner, K. & al. (2020). Psychological Correlates of COVID-19 Pandemic in the Austrian Population. BMC Public Health, 20, 1395. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09489-5
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