Death Anxiety among Adolescents: Implication for Health Education Counsellors in Nigeria

Abstract

The paper was on death anxiety among adolescents. The choice of this group of people was informed by the onset of puberty, adolescents are introduced into a world of change. As a period where peer groups play a central role in the psychological development of most of them as relationships with parents weaken. Literature revealed that female adolescents tend to show high anxiety than their male counterparts as a result of death of a loved one. To reduce the painful effects of death loss, adolescents might try many different actions. For example, taking of drugs or alcohol to be free from the situation. This may lead to addiction, resulting to pre-marital sex, homosexuality and diseases. The counselor should inevitably involve working through some phobic aspects in individual's death anxiety reactions-because this involves loss of social supports of important interpersonal relationship of the individual.