When meaning in life protects against fear of death
The moderating role of self‐alienation
Bibliographic Data
OBJECTIVE: A sense of meaning in life (MIL) is thought to help protect people against experiencing explicit anxiety about death. However, the experience of meaning is complex and subjective and may relate to death anxiety in nuanced ways. We examine how self-alienation-a feeling of not knowing/being disconnected from one's self-might moderate the relationship between MIL and death anxiety. METHOD: Across five studies, we tested the hypothesis that MIL would negatively predict death anxiety more strongly for people relatively low in self-alienation. These studies were similar in design and included exploratory, confirmatory, and pre-registered tests. RESULTS: A meta-regression across our five studies (N = 2001) provided clear evidence that MIL was most strongly associated with lower death anxiety at low self-alienation. We also observed that MIL was positively associated with death anxiety at high self-alienation. These effects were consistent in direction but inconsistent in strength. CONCLUSIONS: We interpreted these results as evidence that MIL is existentially protective when experienced in combination with a relatively strong, clear, and connected sense of self. In contrast, MIL may be existentially problematic when people feel relatively unaware and disconnected from themselves. These findings align with aspects of terror management theory and highlight the potentially complex ways that MIL might relate to death anxiety
Alienation · Anxiety · Death anxiety · Developmental psychology · Fear of death · Meaning (existential) · Meaning of life · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Clinical Psychology · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Psychology · Social Psychology
Death anxiety during warfare
Authenticity, self-control, and smartphone dependence in adolescence
A Spirituality-Based Group Work Intervention Reduces the Sense of Alienation Among Female Turkish Social Work Students
Flourishing, Cinematic Self, and Sense of Self as Predictors of Death Anxiety
Identity, meaning in life, and death anxiety
Love, Death, and Reason for Living
Constructing a Conformer-Explorer Identity in Pandemic Narratives
Advances In Experimental Social Psychology
Correlates of Death Anxiety
The role of meaning in life and optimism in promoting well-being
Terror Management Theory of Self-Esteem and Cultural Worldviews
Death anxiety and its role in psychopathology
Relationship between meaning in life and death anxiety in the elderly
Meaning in Life as Comprehension, Purpose, and Mattering
An Ultra-Brief Screening Scale for Anxiety and Depression
When death thoughts lead to death fears
Feeling Like You Know Who You Are
An Ultra-Brief Screening Scale for Anxiety and Depression
Beyond the Search for Meaning
Understanding the Relationship Between Perceived Authenticity and Well-Being
Stability and specificity of meaning in life and life satisfaction over one year
The authentic personality
Seriousness checks are useful to improve data validity in online research
Death Anxiety and the Emotion-Processing Mind
Discrepancies Between Implicit and Explicit Self‐Esteem
Understanding the Search for Meaning in Life
Authenticity, meaning in life, and life satisfaction
Having a weak versus strong sense of self
The Relationship Between Authenticity and Death Anxiety in Cancer Patients
Death Anxiety and Personality
Meaning in Life and Mortality
What Lies Beyond
The collett-lester fear of death scale
Associations Among Aspects of Meaning in Life and Death Anxiety in Young Adults
The meaningful life in Japan and the United States
Meaning is about mattering
Fear of personal death
Psychological Health and Meaning in Life
A Terror Management Analysis of the Psychological Functions of Religion
Two Decades of Terror Management Theory
The meaning in life questionnaire
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |