Association of Ageism With Death Anxiety, Self-Esteem, Interpersonal Reactivity, and Symbolic Immortality Among Nurses

2021 ◽  
pp. 003022282110192
Author(s):  
Mohammad Rababa ◽  
Dina Masha'al ◽  
Ghada Shahrour
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Death Anxiety ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Psychological Interventions ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Symbolic Immortality ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Low Levels

According toterror management theory (TMT), older adults may often be a reminder of death for younger adults. Therefore, dealing with older adults may be associated with increased levels of death anxiety and decreased levels of self-esteem, interpersonal reactivity, and symbolic immortality, leading younger adults to develop ageist attitudes and behaviors in defense. However, to date, these associations have not been empirically examined, especially among nurses. Self-report questionnaires were used on a sample of 163 nurses to explore the issue of ageism among nurses from the TMT perspective. The results indicated that, after controlling for sociodemographic variables, high levels of death anxiety and low levels of self-esteem, interpersonal reactivity, and symbolic immortality were associated with increased levels of ageism among nurses. Thus, the current study uses TMT to explain ageism among nurses, and the study findings may contribute to the development of psychological interventions aimed at reducing nurses’ ageism.

scholarly journals Understanding the Occupational Adaptation Process and Well-Being of Older Adults in Magallanes (Chile): A Qualitative Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (19) ◽  
pp. 3640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Palma ­Candia ◽  
Hueso­Montoro ◽  
Martí-García ◽  
Fernández-Alcántara ◽  
Campos-Calderón ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Adaptation Process ◽  
Occupational Adaptation ◽  
Use Of Time ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Interpretative Approach ◽  
Depth Interviews

Background: Aging and longevity are important topics nowadays. Purpose: To describe how older adults perform the occupational adaptation process in the extreme region of Magallanes (Chile), and to identify the factors that might contribute to successful occupational adaptation and well-being. Method: Qualitative study, with a phenomenological interpretative approach. In-depth interviews were carried out with 16 older adults, with high or low levels of well-being, assessed with the Ryff Scale. An inductive content analysis according to Elo and Kyngäs was performed. Findings: Resilience, self-esteem and interdependence with significant others are key elements that promote well-being. Participants develop strategies to minimize the effects of environmental factors. The occupation’s function in terms of socialization, use of time, and social participation is revealed as a conditioning factor of occupational adaptation. Implications: Interventions with older people to achieve a successful occupational adaptation process must take into consideration the commitment to meaningful activities.

scholarly journals Relationship between meaning in life and death anxiety in the elderly: self-esteem as a mediator

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaxi Zhang ◽  
Jiaxi Peng ◽  
Pan Gao ◽  
He Huang ◽  
Yunfei Cao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Death Anxiety ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Life Questionnaire ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Meaning In Life Questionnaire ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Background Death anxiety is a common phenomenon in all societies. Older adults may be more prone to death anxiety than their younger counterparts; however, death anxiety among older adults is not well understood. This study explores the relationship between meaning in life, self-esteem, and death anxiety in senior citizens in China. Methods A total of 283 older adults participated in this study; data were collected via the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Death Anxiety Scale. Results Results show that the dimensions of meaning in life, presence of meaning (r = − 0.43, p < 0.01), search for meaning (r = − 0.31, p < 0.01), and self-esteem (r = − 0.54, p < 0.01) were each negatively correlated with death anxiety. Regression analysis reveals that meaning in life significantly predicted self-esteem and death anxiety (F = 45.70, p < 0.01; R2 = 0.33). Path analysis indicated that self-esteem either completely or partially mediated the effects of meaning in life on death anxiety in older adults. Conclusions Overall, meaning in life appears to be significantly correlated with death anxiety in older adults, and self-esteem can mediate this effect.

Existential Meaning and Terror Management

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheldon Solomon ◽  
Jeff Greenberg
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Psychological Disorders ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Symbolic Immortality ◽  
Religious Extremism ◽  
Human Awareness

Terror management theory (TMT) posits that the uniquely human awareness of death engenders potentially debilitating existential terror that is “managed” by subscribing to cultural worldviews providing a sense that life has meaning as well as opportunities to obtain self-esteem, in pursuit of psychological equanimity in the present and literal or symbolic immortality in the future. In empirical support of TMT, research has demonstrated that: self-esteem serves to buffer anxiety in general, and about death in particular; reminders of death increase defense of the cultural worldview and efforts to bolster self-esteem; threats to the cultural worldview or self-esteem increase the accessibility of implicit death thoughts; conscious and non-conscious thoughts of death instigate qualitatively different defensive processes; death reminders increase hostility toward people with different beliefs, affection for charismatic leaders, and support for political and religious extremism; and death reminders magnify symptoms of psychological disorders.

Role of Social Detachment in Coping With Death Anxiety

2017 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurabh Maheshwari ◽  
Tuheena Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiment ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Death Anxiety ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Adaptive Strategy ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Coping With Death

The present research examines the strength of terror management theory in an indigenous Indian context of religious fair called Magh Mela. It explores how elderly Hindu people deal with death anxiety through practicing Kalpvas in Magh Mela. The research explores the role of social detachment and self-esteem in coping with terror of death. Study 1, a field experiment on 150 Kalpvasis (practitioners of Kalpvas) confirms the significant role of social detachment as an adaptive strategy for coping with death terror. The role of self-esteem did not emerge in the study. Study 2, another field experiment on 62 Kalpvasis confirms results of study 1. Significant role of years of Kalpvas on fear of death shows importance of the religious practices in managing terror related to death. The relation of terror management theory and death anxiety thus follows a different explanation for more indigenous contexts.

Ageist attitudes block young adults’ ability for compassion toward incapacitated older adults

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 1541-1550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoav S. Bergman ◽  
Ehud Bodner
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Short Video ◽  
Prosocial Attitudes

ABSTRACTBackground:Upon encountering older adults, individuals display varying degrees of prosocial attitudes and behaviors. While some display compassion and empathy, others draw away and wish to maintain their distance from them. The current study examined if and how ageist attitudes influence the association between the sight of physical incapacity in older age and compassionate reactions toward them. We predicted that ageist attitudes would interfere with the ability to respond to them with compassion.Methods:Young adults (N = 149, ages 19–29) were randomly distributed into two experimental conditions, each viewing a short video portraying different aspects of older adult physicality; one group viewed older adults displaying incapacitated behavior, and the other viewed fit behavior. Participants subsequently filled out scales assessing aging anxieties, and ageist and compassionate attitudes.Results:Ageism was associated with reduced compassion toward the figures. Moreover, viewing incapacitated older adults led to increased concern toward them and perceived efficacy in helping them. However, significant interactions proved that higher scores of ageism in response to the videos led to increased need for distance and reduced efficacy toward incapacitated adults, an effect not observed among subjects with lower ageism scores.Conclusions:Ageism seems to be a factor which disengages individuals from older adults displaying fragility, leading them to disregard social norms which dictate compassion. The results are discussed from the framework of terror management theory, as increased mortality salience and death-related thoughts could have led to the activation of negative attitudes which, in turn, reduce compassion.

Age Differences in Attachment Orientations among Younger and Older Adults: Evidence from Two Self-Report Measures of Attachment

2009 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel L. Segal ◽  
Tracy N. Needham ◽  
Frederick L. Coolidge
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Convergent Validity ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Preoccupied Attachment

The attachment patterns of younger and older adults were studied using two-dimensional self-report measures of adult attachment. Community-dwelling younger ( n = 144, M = 22.5 years, SD = 3.6) and older ( n = 106, M = 68.6 years, SD = 8.3) adults completed the Measure of Attachment Qualities (MAQ; Carver, 1997) and the Relationship Style Questionnaire (RSQ; Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994). Although the MAQ and RSQ are believed to be measuring similar constructs, they are derived from different theoretical perspectives. Correlations between the two measures were in the expected directions proving modest evidence for their convergent validity. Regarding cross-sectional results, as was expected, older adults scored lower than younger adults on the ambivalent-worry attachment scale of the MAQ and the preoccupied attachment scale of the RSQ. There were no age differences regarding secure, avoidant, and dismissing attachment. It appears that older adults experience anxious types of attachment less frequently than younger adults. Although these results primarily speak to age differences and possible cohort effects, they also provide some support for socioemotional selectivity theory and its hypothesized improved relationships in later life.

scholarly journals Terror Management Theory

Psychology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheldon Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Symbolic Immortality ◽  
Death Awareness ◽  
Intellectual Abilities ◽  
Cultural Worldviews

Terror management theory posits that the juxtaposition of an inclination toward self-preservation with the highly developed intellectual abilities that make humans aware of their vulnerabilities and inevitable death creates the potential for paralyzing terror. One of the most important functions of cultural worldviews is to manage the terror engendered by death awareness. This is accomplished primarily through the cultural mechanism of self-esteem, which consists of the belief that one is a valuable contributor to a meaningful universe, and hence eligible for literal and/or symbolic immortality. Effective terror management requires, first, faith in a meaningful conception of reality (the cultural worldview), and second, belief that one is meeting the standards of value prescribed by that worldview (self-esteem). Because of the protection from the potential for terror that these psychological structures afford, people are motivated to maintain faith in their cultural worldviews and satisfy the standards of value associated with them.

Examining honesty–humility and cheating behaviors across younger and older adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 016502542110390
Author(s):  
Alison M. O’Connor ◽  
Rebecca A. Judges ◽  
Kang Lee ◽  
Angela D. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Cheating Behavior ◽  
Report Measure

Self-report research indicates that dishonesty decreases across adulthood; however, behavioral measures of dishonesty have yet to be examined across younger and older adults. The present study examined younger and older adults’ cheating behaviors in relation to their self-reported honesty–humility. Younger ( N = 112) and older adults ( N = 85) completed a matrix task where they had the opportunity to falsely inflate their performance. Participants also completed the self-report measure of honesty–humility from the HEXACO-PI-R. Older adults were significantly less likely to cheat and had higher ratings of honesty–humility compared to younger adults. Greater honesty–humility predicted lower cheating behavior. These results demonstrate that older adults show greater rates of honesty and humility compared to younger adults using both behavioral and self-report methods.

Death Anxiety and Self-Esteem in Young Children with Aids: A Sense of Hope

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ireland
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Death Anxiety ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Screening Tool ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Emotional Needs ◽  
Peabody Picture Vocabulary ◽  
Self Worth ◽  
Low Levels

This study used Roger's science of unitary human beings nursing model and the theory of accelerating change to examine young children who have AIDS. Differences in death anxiety and self-esteem were compared among thirty-five healthy and thirty-five AIDS-diagnosed African-American and Latino children. Each child was individually administered the screening tool, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, the Thematic Instrument for Measuring Death Anxiety in Children, and the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance. The AIDS-diagnosed children did not manifest more death anxiety nor lower self-esteem than healthy peers. These findings are in contrast to previous studies about fatally ill children which routinely reported them to have high levels of death concern and low levels of self-worth. They provide a different framework for understanding the emotional needs of children with AIDS.

The Influence of Age on Emotion Regulation Strategies and Psychological Distress

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 668-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Brummer ◽  
Lusia Stopa ◽  
Romola Bucks
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Emotion Regulation Strategies ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Emotional Suppression ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Regulation Strategies

Background: To date there is promising, yet limited, evidence to suggest that differences exist between older and younger adults’ emotion regulation styles. Aims: The study aimed to explore emotion regulation style across the adult lifespan by assessing whether self-reported reappraisal, or suppression, differs across age groups, and how these emotion regulation strategies may impact upon psychological distress. Method: Three hundred and seventeen younger, 175 middle-aged and 85 older adults’ emotion regulation styles and levels of psychological distress were measured using self-report questionnaires and examined using a cross-sectional design. Results: The findings suggest that, compared to younger adults, older adults make greater use of suppression, the emotion regulation strategy. This greater use of suppression by older adults was not related to increased levels of psychological distress. By contrast, younger adults who reported high levels of suppression reported higher levels of psychological distress. In addition, older adults reported less anxiety and stress than younger adults, with no age differences in depression. Conclusions: Findings suggest a possible decoupling of the use of emotional suppression and psychological distress with age. Suppression may be a useful form of emotion regulation for the stressors experienced in later life and, arguably, therefore may not be associated with the negative outcomes observed in younger adults.

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