Final answer:
Personal worth and life achievement can reduce the fear of death, aligning with Erikson's theory of integrity versus despair in late adulthood. Kübler-Ross's stages of grief, particularly acceptance, also provide insight into coping with mortality. Religious and spiritual beliefs can further improve death acceptance.
Step-by-step explanation:
Adults who have achieved life goals or believe they have become the person they wanted to be often have less fear of death. This sense of accomplishment and personal fulfillment can lead to a belief that their life has been meaningful, which in turn reduces fear of death. Moreover, these ideas align with Erik Erikson's theory of the psychosocial stage of integrity versus despair at the end of life.
Erikson posits that individuals in late adulthood reflect on their lives and can either experience a sense of integrity if they feel content with their achievements or despair if they have regrets. Successfully achieving integrity means embracing life's outcomes and contributes to a reduced fear of death. Conversely, the inability to resolve these conflicts can result in increased fear and difficulty in facing one's mortality.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's model of grief, including the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, is another prominent concept related to how people cope with death. The last stage, acceptance, is where a person comes to terms with death, seeing it as a natural part of life, which also contributes to lessened death anxiety.
Religious and spiritual beliefs often provide comfort and a system of support, allowing individuals to cope more effectively with the concept of death. The promise of an afterlife, social support from spiritual communities, and a deeper sense of purpose are factors that can diminish the fear of the unknown.