Image, anxiety and attitudes towards death before COVID-19 and three years later: A study with adolescents

Abstract

Anxiety disorders and depression have increased as a result of COVID-19. The aim of this study is to examine the influence of the pandemic and gender on death imagery, death anxiety and attitudes towards death among a group of 319 high school adolescents. A month before the beginning of the pandemic, tests measuring death imagery, death anxiety and attitudes towards death were handed out to 195 participants, and 134 participants took the same tests three years later, right after the end of the pandemic. The comparison of pre-and post-pandemic scores shows no significant differences in death imagery or death anxiety between the two. After the pandemic, participants showed higher Approach Acceptance (AA) and Neutral Acceptance (NA), while women were found to experience more Fear of Death (FD) and higher Escape Acceptance (EA) than men. Results are explained considering the times at which the tests were taken as well as the participants’ characteristics.