Fear of personal death as a predictor of motivation for religious behavior

Based on the notion that both fear of death and religious motivation are expressions of deeper basic human concerns, the relation between fear of personal death and religious motivation was examined using multidimensional measures of both constructs. Hierarchical regression analysis of the responses of 123 Israeli Jews showed that, after controlling for demographic variables and for religiosity, interpersonal, intrapersonal and transpersonal fear of death measures contributed to the prediction of corresponding interpersonal, intrapersonal and transpersonal measures of religious motivation.