Defensive Responses to Thoughts of Death in Older Adults

老年人对死亡想法的防御性反应

• 批准号: 7091860
• 负责人: THOMAS A PYSZCZYNSKI
• 金额: $ 21.12万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-07-01 至 2010-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7091860
• 关键词: age difference; behavior prediction; behavior test; behavioral /social science research tag; clinical research; coping; culture; death; emotional adjustment; fear; human middle age (35-64); human old age (65+); human subject; human very old age (85+); perception; psychological aspect of aging; psychological defense mechanism; psychological values; questionnaires; self concept; social group process; social perception; young adult human (21-34)

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Terror management theory posits that awareness of the inevitability of death plays an important role in the pursuit of meaning and value in life and therefore affects a very diverse range of human behaviors. Over 300 studies have provided converging support for TMT's central propositions. Older adults are closer to death than the younger adults that have been studied in most TMT research. Further, with advancing age, people often experience changes that remind them of their mortality and that threaten their self-worth within the context of their cultural milieu. This suggests that death- related concerns and problems associated with them are likely to become increasingly troubling as one ages. However, the research on how elders deal with the issue of death suggests that, if anything, they report less fear of death than their younger counterparts, and a growing literature on the general psychological adjustment of older adults suggests that, for the most part, older adults are better adjusted than younger adults. Other research suggests, however, that many older adults experience significant problems with anxiety, depression, and cognitive rigidity. The proposed research has three goals: First, to explore similarities and differences in the ways young and old adults respond to reminders of death. Second, to examine the possibility that some but not all older adults have made a transition to a different form of coping with mortality by investigating the role of individual differences in cognitive rigidity and general psychological adjustment as possible moderators of how older adults cope with the problem of death. Third to investigate the possibility that older and younger persons use distinctly different strategies for coping with the problem of death, with older adults more likely to rely on socio-emotional selectivity, generativity, optimism for future generations, and an orientation toward the past than their younger counterparts. By exploring how older adults adapt to their greater proximity to death, this work will shed light on developmental changes in coping strategies that influence diverse aspects of older adults' lives. Given the strong evidence from research with younger adults that death-related anxiety plays a role in psychological adjustment and disorder, physical health, interpersonal relations, and the capacity to adapt to life changes, this research has implications for health, adjustment, and well-being in later life.

描述（由申请人提供）：恐怖管理理论认为，对死亡不可避免性的认识在追求生命的意义和价值方面起着重要作用，因此会影响各种各样的人类行为。300多项研究为TMT的核心主张提供了一致的支持。在大多数TMT研究中，老年人比年轻人更接近死亡。此外，随着年龄的增长，人们往往会经历一些变化，这些变化使他们想起自己的死亡，并在其文化环境中威胁到他们的自我价值。这表明，随着年龄的增长，与死亡有关的担忧和问题可能会变得越来越令人不安。然而，关于老年人如何处理死亡问题的研究表明，如果有的话，他们对死亡的恐惧比年轻人少，越来越多的关于老年人一般心理调整的文献表明，在大多数情况下，老年人比年轻人更好地调整。然而，其他研究表明，许多老年人在焦虑、抑郁和认知僵化方面存在严重问题。这项拟议中的研究有三个目标：首先，探索年轻人和老年人对死亡提醒的反应方式的相似性和差异。第二，通过调查认知僵化和一般心理调整的个体差异作为老年人如何科普死亡问题的可能调节者的作用，来研究一些但不是所有老年人已经过渡到不同形式的应对死亡的可能性。第三，调查老年人和年轻人使用明显不同的策略来应对死亡问题的可能性，老年人比年轻人更可能依赖社会情感选择性，繁殖力，对后代的乐观态度以及对过去的取向。通过探索老年人如何适应他们更接近死亡，这项工作将揭示影响老年人生活各个方面的应对策略的发展变化。鉴于对年轻人的研究提供了强有力的证据，即与死亡有关的焦虑在心理调整和障碍，身体健康，人际关系以及适应生活变化的能力方面发挥着作用，这项研究对晚年的健康，调整和幸福感具有影响。