TITLE:
Death Attitudes and Perception about the Death of the Vietnamese Elderly
AUTHORS:
Hoang Moc Lan, Trinh Thi Linh, Ngo Mai Trang
KEYWORDS:
Death Attitudes, Belief in Afterlife, Fair of Death, Causes of Death, Vietnamese Elderly
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.5 No.10,
October
31,
2017
ABSTRACT: This study aims to examine the death attitudes and perception about the death
of the elderly in Vietnam in the current period. Using the scale based on the
research work of Wong and his colleagues (1994) and concepts of Buddhism,
the study was performed on 959 elderly people in three areas: The Nord, the
Centre and the South of the country. Results of data analysis show that only a
part of the studied believe in afterlife. They tend to believe that their death is
caused by pain, sadness and missing dear people instead of the supernatural
that force them to die. Concerning death attitudes, we note that the majority
of the studied will make actions expressing their willingness to accept death.
Age, education, gender and life arrangement affect death perception as well as
death attitudes in which we also note the difference by self-reported health
and satisfaction of material life.