Life experience with death: relation to death attitudes and to the use of death-related memories.
The study examines the relation of death experience to death attitudes and to autobiographical memory use. Participants (N = 52) completed standard death attitude measures and wrote narratives about a death-related autobiographical memory and (for comparison) a memory of a low point. Self-ratings of the memory narratives were used to assess their functional use. Results show that higher levels of experience with death were related to lower levels of death anxiety and avoidance. Participants with higher levels of death experience also more frequently used their death-related memories to serve adaptive functions.
Bluck
Susan
S
Department of Psychology, University of Florida, PO Box 115911, Gainesville, FL 32611-5911, USA. bluck@ufl.edu
Dirk
Judith
J
Mackay
Michael M
MM
Hux
Ashley
A
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety; D001293:Attitude to Death; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006738:Hospices; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires