The Predictive Role of Religious Beliefs, Psychosocial Illness, and Aging on Death Anxiety Among Christians and Muslims

Anxiety about death is a complex phenomenon, shaped by social, cultural, and religious factors. Death anxiety has been exhaustively studied; however, few studies have explored this relationship among followers of various religions in a singular cultural context. The current study provides an opportunity to address this gap with Christians and Muslims of Pakistan, not only by assessing the role of religious beliefs in these religious groups but also by ascertaining their death anxiety in relation to psychosocial illness and fear of aging. A convenience sample of 202 Muslims and 222 Christians (N = 424) completed four scales: the Psychoreligious Beliefs Scale, Sukoon Psychosocial Illness Scale, Brief Fear of Aging Scale, and Death Anxiety Scale. Our findings revealed that levels of death anxiety were significantly higher in Muslims than in Christians. Death anxiety was predicted by psychoreligious beliefs and fear of aging among both Christians and Muslims but not by psychological illness. We conclude that religious orientation and fear of aging contribute to increasing death anxiety. The paper discusses the role of imams and pastors in addressing issues pertaining to death and death anxiety with their Muslim and Christian followers.