Construction of short Russian versions of death attitude profile-revised and fear of personal death scale

Research on attitudes toward death and fears of death is an important and promising trend in psychology, which adds to understanding of human motivation and has pronounced applied significance for suicidology. Objectives: To construct short Russian versions of Death Attitude Profile-Revised and Fear of Personal Death Scale. Method: A consolidated sample of 967 students of medical, technical and social sciences (457 males, 503 females, 7 undefined) from the cities of Moscow, Cheboksary, Ryazan and Tula, aged 16 - 37 (M=20.04, SD=1.87). Results: Confirmatory factor analysis was performed, on the basis of which short Russian versions of the questionnaires were constructed (CFI=.945, SRMS=.052, RMSEA=.054 for DAP-R, 18 items; CFI=.943, SRMS=.045, RMSEA=.060 for FPDS, 21 items). Norms for male and female students were calculated. Gender differences (t-test) of low and average statistical significance (Cohen’s d) were found for most scales of both questionnaires. Females were higher in fears and acceptance of death (dCohen from.233 to.556), except for Neutral Acceptance of Death, which was somewhat more pronounced in males (dCohen = -.146). On the basis of correlation analysis the most benign scales were defined: Neutral Acceptance of Death, Fear of Consequences for Family and Friends; as well as the most adverse: Fear of Death, Escape Acceptance of Death, Fear of Consequences for Body, Fear of Being Forgotten. Conclusion: The article generalizes foreign and Russian research with the use of Death Attitude Scale-Revised and Fear of Personal Death Scale. Short Russian versions of the questionnaires are formed; their reliability, validity and internal consistency are confirmed.