PERSONAL MEANINGS OF DEATH - A CONTENT-ANALYSIS OF FREE-RESPONSE NARRATIVES

Despite the proliferation of research on death attitudes, relatively l ittle attention has been paid to idiosyncratic meanings of death, as o pposed to the large volume of work on death anxiety using standardized measures. This study applied a reliable coding system to narrative de scriptions of the meaning of death contributed by 504 respondents. Con tent analysis of these free-form responses suggested that construction s of death differed significantly depending on the subjects sex, healt h status, previous history of suicide attempts or ideation, and death fear or threat. Most importantly, respondents professing a coherent '' personal philosophy of death'' viewed death as more purposeful, expect ed, and involving some form of continued existence, whereas those with out such a philosophy wrote narratives implying a negative evaluation, low acceptance, and low understanding of death. Modifications of the coding system for use with free-response data are suggested, along wit h applications of the method to future research.