Projective Assessment of the Relationships between the Salience of Death, Religion, and Age among Adults in America

The relationships between age, religious orientation, and perception of death are investigated utilizing a sample of 1428 respondents randomly selected from two larger representative national samples. Although a statistically significant relationship is found between religion and perception of death, when age is introduced as a control the relationship remains only among young adults. The finding that religion mitigates concerns about death concurs with results found in previous studies. The data relative to young adults, however, suggest the need for a broader conceptualization of the relationship between death anxiety and religion, which incorporates developmental influences over the adult life cycle.