Templer Death Anxiety Scale (TDAS)

The Templer Death Anxiety Scale (TDAS) was developed by Donald I. Templer in 1970 to measure the level of anxiety an individual experiences when contemplating death. It consists of 15 items that assess death anxiety using a true/false format. The scale has been widely used in research and has been translated into several languages2.

Dimensions of Religiosity Scale (DOR)

The Dimensions of Religiosity Scale (DOR) was developed by Marie Cornwall, Stan L. Albrecht, Perry H. Cunningham, and Brian L. Pitcher in 1986. It assesses six dimensions of religiosity: traditional orthodoxy, particularistic orthodoxy, spiritual commitment, church commitment, religious behavior, and religious participation3. The scale consists of 34 items and uses a 5-point Likert scale for responses. Professional_Med_J_Q_2015_22_6_723_732.pdf

The Dimensions of Religiosity Scale: 20-item self-report measure of religious preoccupation, guidance, conviction, and emotional involvement

• November 2007
• Mental Health Religion & Culture Religion & Culture(6):603-608
• DOI:
• 10.1080/13674670601050295
• 📷Stephen Joseph
• Deborah DiDuca
• It is here on RG. Ask the authors.

See – ChatGPT knew!

Looking at the death anxiety scale, it strikes me that it may derive its apparently acceptable psychometric properties from the repetition of the same question in slightly different wordings. This is the kind of thing that participants find annoying, feeling – rightly – that they already answered that question.

Perhaps more recent work on death might yield a more multidimensional instrument. For example, fear of death (ceasing to exist) and fear of the dying process are probably different constructs. Likewise, fears about one's own death and fears around deaths of others. There is also the fear around what happens after death. Some religious people get very bothered by this, fearing that the deity whom they hold to be pure goodness might have an infinite torture chamber for people who didn't make the cut.