The Romanian adaptation of the death anxiety beliefs and behaviors scale
Despite growing interest in death anxiety as a transdiagnostic factor, no validated death anxiety measures exist in Romanian. This study aimed to adapt and validate the Death Anxiety Beliefs and Behaviors Scale (DABBS) in Romanian. A total of 482 participants completed the online assessment consisting of the adapted DABBS, as well as measures of depression, anxiety, neuroticism, and self-esteem. The same measures were applied at retest, three weeks later. Confirmatory Factor Analysis did not confirm the original three-factor model. Exploratory Factor Analysis identified a new five-factor structure: "Affect," "Death Beliefs about Self," "Death Beliefs about Others," "Behavioral Avoidance," and "Experiential Avoidance." The Romanian DABBS demonstrated good construct validity, excellent internal consistency and good test-retest reliability. Although the Romanian version differs factorially, findings support it as a reliable measure of death anxiety in Romanian populations.
Authors
- Roxana Cardoș (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9447-8034)
- Elisa P. Dumitru (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2148-7201)
- Daniel David (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0088-5641)
Institutions
- Babeș-Bolyai University (RO)
- International Institute for Advanced Studies (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Death Studies
- Published
- 2025-06-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2025.2516580
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.44