Preparation for Death in Old Age1

ing and awareness of death " (Christ, 1961), and "concern over death " (Rhudick & Dibner, 1961) have produced results which seem to be somewhat contradictory as to how people really feel about death and what background vari-ables are associated with these feelings. The contradictory findings may be due to differences in question wording, method of data collection, and the questionnaire or interview context in which such an emotion-laden matter was intro-duced. The present study assumes, however, that even if problems of reliability can be solved, problems of validity would remain be-cause of the anxiety-provoking nature of a direct approach in the measurement of atti-tudes toward death. It is almost impossible for the investigator to be certain which of the answers he has elicited represent a true reflec-tion of attitudes (Feifel, 1956; Shrut, 1958) and which are merely mechanisms to assuage anxiety (Beigler, 1957). By investigating actual behavior in lieu of expressed attitudes (Bromberg & Schilder, 1933), the present study by-passed both the issue of ego-defensive maneuvers and the ques-tion of whether conscious or unconscious at-titudes were being expressed. The dependent variable was preparation for death, as indicated by the S having made one or more provisions for its advent. The respondents were asked not how they felt about death, but what con-crete preparations they had made for its in-evitable approach