FEAR OF PERSONAL DEATH IN ADULTHOOD - THE IMPACT OF EARLY AND RECENT LOSSES

This study examines the association between the loss of significant ot hers and fear of personal death in adulthood. The sample consisted of a group of 86 Israeli adults who had experienced a significant loss in childhood or adolescence and a matched group of 86 subjects who had n ot experienced any early loss. participants in each group were further divided according to the experience of a significant loss during the previous 2 years and completed a multidimensional scab measuring fear of personal death. Whereas early loss was positively related to the in terpersonal component of fear of death, recent loss was positively rel ated to the intrapersonal and transpersonal components of this fear. T hese associations were found to be moderated by the identity of the lo st person, the age of the subject at the lime of the early loss, and t he subject's gender The discussion emphasizes the complexity of the me anings and antecedents of fear of death in adulthood.