Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Version (C-DAP-R) of the Death Attitude Profile-Revised

The psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R) were examined with 100 young adult, 100 middleage adult, and 100 older adult Chinese respondents in Hong Kong (N = 300). Three of the five subscales from the original DAP-R including Fear of Death, Death Avoidance, and Escape Acceptance were replicated and had acceptable internal reliabilities (Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.79 to 0.85); comparison between these subscales and scores of the DAS provide evidence of concurrent validity. However, items on the Neutral Acceptance subscale loaded onto two separate factors, replicating findings from an earlier validation study of the DAP-R, and providing further evidence that this subscale may not be measuring a unitary construct. Moreover, items on the Approach Acceptance subscale also failed loaded on one factor and was split between two factors, suggesting a cultural difference between Western and Chinese peoples' perception of the afterlife and life after death. Discussions on research and clinical application are provided.