农村老年人死亡焦虑的测量——基于DAQ量表的验证与分析

The Measurement of the Elders' Death Anxiety in Rural China——Based on the Validation and Analysis of DAQ

随着全球人口老龄化进程的不断加快,老年人死亡问题受到越来越多的关注。大多数的老年人面对死亡时采取回避或否认的态度,感到焦虑不安。死亡焦虑是老年人心理健康的重要标志,对老年人的生活质量产生重要的影响,但是长期以来受中国传统思想文化的影响,对老年人的死亡焦虑尤其是农村老年人的死亡焦虑一直缺乏科学规范的测量工具。本文引入国外常用的死亡焦虑量表DAQ(Death Anxiety Questionnaire),利用安徽省农村老年人福利动态跟踪调查2015年第六期的数据,验证其测量中国农村老年人死亡焦虑的适用性,分析中国农村老年人死亡焦虑的水平与结构。结果表明DAQ量表基本适用于测量中国农村老年人的死亡焦虑,农村老年人的死亡焦虑有其特殊的结构特征,包括对苦难的恐惧、对角色丧失的恐惧和对孤单的恐惧三个重要的方面。农村老年人的死亡焦虑处于中等偏低的水平,对苦难的恐惧是其死亡焦虑产生的主要来源。进一步的研究还表明,不同社会人口特征的农村老年人其死亡焦虑水平也具有一定的差异。本文还对影响中国农村老年人死亡焦虑的经济、社会和文化因素进行讨论和分析。本研究对于科学评价中国农村老年人的死亡焦虑状况,进而提出适宜的社会政策和社会服务提供了有价值的工具。

In recent years, with the acceleration of global aging process of population, the elderly are facing a common theme：death, most of them adopt avoidance or deny attitude, feel anxiety. Death anxiety is an important indicator of mental health of the elderly and have an important impact on the elder＇ s quality of life, but for a long time under the influence of Chinese traditional ideology and culture, there has been a lack of scientific and standardized measurement tools for measuring the elder＇ s anxiety, especially the rural elders＇ death anxiety. Using data from the 2015 Sixth Wave of the Longitudinal Survey of Wellbeing of Rural Elderly in Anhui Province, this paper applies Death Anxiety Questionnaire （DAQ） which is commonly used in the world to validate its applicability to measure death anxiety of Chinese rural elderly, so as to analyze the level and structure of death anxiety of the Chinese rural elderly. The results show that the DAQ is generally suitable to measure death anxiety of the Chinese rural elderly, which includes unique structural dimensions of fear of suffering, fear of loss of the role, and fear of loneliness. The paper finds death anxiety of Chinese rural elderly relatively low, with fear of suffering the main source of death anxiety. Further study shows that the death anxiety of Chinese rural elderly differs across various social, economic and demograph- ic characteristics. Finally, this paper also discusses and analyzes the economic, social and cultural factors that affect the death anxiety of Chinese rural elderly. This study provides a valuable scientific tool for evaluating Chinese rural elderly＇ s death anxiety and consequently proposing appropriate social policy and social services.