Abstract

This study aimed to validate the Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R). It investigated the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Korean version of the DAP-R (K-DAP-R). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the K-DAP-R comprised five factors: fear of death, death avoidance, escape acceptance, approach acceptance, and neutral acceptance. In addition, it showed good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and generally good convergent and divergent validity, except for the approach acceptance factor. Fear of death and death avoidance factors were positively correlated. The neutral acceptance factor was negatively correlated with these two factors, but the approach and escape acceptance factors were not significantly correlated with the fear of death factor. Unlike previous studies, there were no significant differences in fear of death or neutral acceptance factors between the age groups. In addition, males showed a higher level of fear of death than females. The escape acceptance factor showed a significant positive correlation with trait anxiety, and negative correlations with self-esteem and psychological well-being. This result indicates that “the attitude to accept death in order to avoid present suffering” may be related to suicide risk. Along with the significance and limitations of the current study, future directions for the study are discussed.