Abstract
Background A positive attitude toward death has significant implications for college students, and can help students establish a healthy concept of life. But most colleges and universities in Mainland China have not yet carried out systematic death education courses.
Objective This study aims to explore the attitudes of college age students to determine how they approach the idea of death using questions that explore five separate dimensions of attitude and belief.
Methods We invited students from seven colleges in Mainland China using invitations sent to each year’s WeChat group. Students participated by scanning a QR code, and were then directed to a website that contained a self-administered questionnaire. We received 1,206 completed interviews.
Results We found evidence of a substantial gender difference in attitudes toward death. These differences remain after adjustment for differences between male and female in other correlates of death attitudes, and are not a function of gender differences in the dimensionality of the five scales used to characterize attitudes.
Conclusion Using previous research on gender differences as a guide, we speculate that these differences originate in culturally-defined expectations that are gender-related, as well as in substantial differences in individual family experiences of death. These speculations can take the form of testable hypotheses that should explain differences within genders as well as between genders. We believe that better education about death for college students can shape healthier attitudes among both male and female.
