The structure and measurement of death obsession

A new concept of death obsession has been introduced and its scale has been constructed. The scale contains 15 items with a Likert-type format. It has good face, construct, concurrent and discriminant validity, as well as good internal consistency and stability. Three factors were disclosed: death rumination, death domination and death idea repetition. It correlated positively with death anxiety, death depression, general obsession, general anxiety, and general depression. Two high-loaded factors were extracted: death distress and general neurosis. The Death Obsession Scale correlated positively with neuroticism, while its correlation with extraversion was not significant. There were no gender differences between the mean scores.