The development and psychometric properties of the Turkish death anxiety scale (TDAS)

The purpose of the present study was to develop the Turkish Death Anxiety Scale (TDAS) and test its initial psychometric properties. Four independent samples participated in the study: 943 college students in item generation, 388 college students in validation, 171 college students in reliability investigation, and 338 adults in cross-validation. Principal component analysis with a varimax rotation revealed that 20 items of the scale contained three factors (i.e., Ambiguity of Death, Exposure to Death, and Agony of Death), which explained over 67% of the total variability. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated acceptable fit. Significant correlations were found between the scale and death anxiety, state anxiety, trait anxiety, depression, and hopelessness in the student sample. In the adult sample, death anxiety significantly correlated with trait anxiety. Reliability coefficients were also found acceptable. The authors conclude that the TDAS is a promising instrument in assessing the death anxiety levels in Turkey.