The Diploid Correspondence between Gratitude and Death Anxiety: A Systematic Review

Pages: 179-183
Devidutta Pati1 and Bharati Krishna Mahapatra2 (P.G Department of Psychology, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha1 and Department of Psychology, SCS Autonomous College, Puri, Odisha2)

This article systematically reviews the literature pertaining to gratitude and death anxiety. The purpose of the study is to identify, evaluate and summarize whether there is any dyadic relationship between gratitude and death anxiety. The studies related to gratitude and death anxiety/ death reflection/ death-related fear of reoccurrence/ mortality salience published after 2000 are included for the study. The studies involving the relationship between gratitude and well-being, gratitude, and life satisfaction are excluded as well-being and life satisfaction are not same as death anxiety. The studies involving the association between gratitude and anxiety are also not included in the review. Studies, where the meaning of life is used in place of Gratitude are also excluded. Various databases including science direct, PubMed, ProQuest, Springer along with Google and Google scholar are searched till 15th March 2022 to identify the studies. About 9 empirical studies, 1 biographical research study, 1 bachelor’s thesis, and 2 web articles were found for the study. The review indicates that there is a significant positive relationship between gratitude and death anxiety. But the impact of one on another is two-way. The findings of this review also revealed several limitations in the studies done like small sample size, few numbers of random samplings, lack of studies in the Indian context etc. Provided less number of studies related to these two concepts together, this review will encourage for further studies in this regard.