Do Highly Religious People Have No Fear of Death? A Preliminary Study among Malaysian Chinese Adults during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Authors

Sarvarubini Nainee

Abstract

The inevitability of death has challenged the human instinct to strive for survival. This contradicts the instincts and natural phenomena, creating a sense of anxiety in humans known as death anxiety. Various studies have been carried out to investigate this subject. However studies within the local context remain insufficient. This study is cross-sectional and employed a survey of 212 Chinese adults in the age range of 20 to 40, residing in Selangor state, Malaysia. The result of the Pearson Correlation showed no significant negative relationship between intrinsic religiosity and extrinsic social religiosity on death anxiety. Future studies are recommended to involve a heterogeneous sample in terms of age, ethnicity, religion, and other variables. The current study provides evidence that higher levels of extrinsic personal religiosity reduce anxiety towards death. The results shed light on the development of religion–integrated models for interventions for inflating the optimistic view on life.

Recommended Citation

Nainee, Sarvarubini (2023) "Do Highly Religious People Have No Fear of Death? A Preliminary Study among Malaysian Chinese Adults during the Covid-19 Pandemic," Malaysian Journal of Chinese Studies: Vol. 12: No. 2, Article 2.
Available at: https://mjcs.newera.edu.my/journal/vol12/iss2/2