Death Anxiety Among College Students: A Qualitative Study

Death has been defined as the discontinuance of brain and heart function. Regardless of age, race, ethnic group, or socioeconomic status all individuals must face death. According to death records, approximately 60 million deaths occur each year. Although all individuals must face death, individuals vary in how they manage this inevitability. For example, some individuals face an intense fear of death or the dying process, known as thanatophobia, while other individuals have little to no fear, or even peace. Although thanatophobia may not be present, some form of death anxiety is often experienced. While there are a number of articles reviewing death generally, there is a paucity of research regarding death anxiety. Specifically, there is a lack of research reviewing college student’s experiences of death anxiety. Using a qualitative research model with a grounded theory variant, this study is designed to study death anxiety experiences by college students.