International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN: 2319-7064 Index Copernicus Value (2016): 79.57 | Impact Factor (2017): 7.296 Volume 7 Issue 10, October 2018 www.ijsr.net Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY Spirituality, Death Anxiety, Transliminality among Middle Aged Adults Priya Magesh 1 , Poornima B. 2 1 Assistant Professor and Head, Department of Psychology, Madras School of Social Work, Egmore, Chennai-600 008, India 2 UG student, Department of Psychology, Madras School of Social Work, Egmore, Chennai-600 008, India Abstract: Introduction : Spirituality connotes the self‟s existential search for ultimate meaning through an individualized understanding of the sacred (Atchley, 1997; Roof, 1993, 1999; Tillich, 1963). Death anxiety is a "feeling of dread, apprehension or solicitude (anxiety) when one thinks of the process of dying, or ceasing to „be‟". (Farley G, 2010). Transliminality is defined as “a hypothetical tendency for psychological material to cross (trans) thresholds (limines) into or out of consciousness” (Thalbourne & Houran, 2000). Atchley tried to use a nonreligious approach to describe spirituality as „deep inner silence‟, „insight‟, „compassions‟, „connection with the ground of being‟, „transcendence of personal self‟, „wonder‟, „transformation‟, and a „concept that sensitizes us to a region of human experience and tells us generally what to look for in that region‟. (Lavretsky, 2010). Jung (1943, 1964) argued that around midlife individuals typically begin to turn inward to explore the more spiritual aspect of the self. (Wink & Dillon, 2002). Statistically significant correlation was found between middle adulthood and death anxiety. (Nivya, Keerthi, Ajayan & Pavithra, 2013). Previous researches have studied how spirituality, death anxiety and transliminality individually play a role in middle adulthood. The objective of this study is to find the relationship between spirituality, transliminality and death anxiety among middle adulthood men and women. Methodology : Cross sectional research designwas used. Using purposive sampling techniques, a sample of 110 middle aged men and women (50 men and 60 women) of age ranging from 40-60 were selected. Tools used in the study to collect the data were Spirituality scale (Bindhu & Swaminathan, 2007), Death Anxiety scale (Templer, D., 1970) and Revised Transliminality Scale (Lange, R., Thalbourne, MA, Houran, J., Storm, L., 2000). Result : Karl Pearson product moment correlation wasl be used to find out the relationship. Independent sample t test was used to find out the difference between men and women. It was found that there was significant relationship between Spirituality and death anxiety. Also, it was found that the relationship of transliminality with spirituality and death anxiety was not significant. No differences in all three dimensions were found between males and females of middle adulthood. Keywords: Death Anxiety, Middle Adulthood, Spirituality, Transliminality 1. Introduction Middle adulthood is the phase of life that succeeds early adulthood and precedes old age. The US Census lists the category middle age around 45 to 64, while prominent psychologist Erik Erikson saw it ending a little later and defines middle adulthood as between 40 and 65. Jung (1943, 1964) argued that around midlife individuals typically begin to turn inward to explore the more spiritual aspect of the self. Prior to this stage, external constraints associated with launching a career and establishing a family tend to be paramount. The inward turn that characterizes the second half of adulthood complements, according to Jung, the outer directed orientation of young adulthood in a way that expands one‟s sense of the self and thus completes the process of self-realization. (Wink & Dillon, 2002). Spirituality is the product of the maturational process that occurs in the course of adult life (Alexander et al., 1990; Sinnott, 1994). Atchley tried to use a nonreligious approach to describe spirituality as „deep inner silence‟, „insight‟, „compassions‟, „connection with the ground of being‟, „transcendence of personal self‟, „wonder‟, „transformation‟, and a „concept that sensitizes us to a region of human experience and tells us generally what to look for in that region‟. (Lavretsky, 2010). Death anxiety is a "feeling of dread, apprehension or solicitude (anxiety) when one thinks of the process of dying, or ceasing to „be‟". (Farley G, 2010). When we‟re young busy enjoying the sense of immortality and indestructibility, death may seem so far in the future as not to much matter. But sooner or later, reality can hit, sometimes followed by a surging fear of death or ongoing death anxiety. Death anxiety involves the dread of no longer existing, or complete annihilation. It hits on the mental and spiritual levels, bringing an awareness of the loss of existence. A research study observed that the absence of a relation between spirituality and fear of death reflected the spiritual individual's emphasis on personal searching, creativity, and the positive use of reminiscence. (Wink .P, 2006). This calls for a study to find the relationship between spirituality, death anxiety and trasliminality. The origins of transliminality trace back to 1991, when it was first conceptualized as “an openness or receptiveness to impulses and experiences whose sources are in preconscious (or unconscious) processes” (Thalbourne, 1991). Empirical evidence for a factor that was to become known as transliminality arose from a study by Thalbourne and Delin (1994). They administered a series of tests to samples of manic-depressives, schizophrenics and university students. It was found that scores on belief in the paranormal correlated with scores on measures of creative personality, mystical experience, magical ideation, and history of manic-like and depressive experience. Transliminality is currently defined as “a hypothesised tendency for psychological material to cross (trans) thresholds (limines) into or out of consciousness” (Thalbourne&Houran, 2000). Paper ID: ART20191616 DOI: 10.21275/ART20191616 178