Managing the death of close others: Evidence of higher valuing of ingroup identity in young adults who have experienced the death of a close other

Abstract

The death of a close other (DOCO) is perhaps the most difficult experience that people endure. According to terror management theory (TMT), people manage the potentially terrorizing awareness of their mortality by immersing in cultural worldviews that allow them to feel like valuable members of a meaningful universe who may have some existence or trace after death. Although TMT has potential implications for understanding how people cope with DOCO, few studies have examined this possibility. We report results from four studies showing that, in line with TMT, students who experienced DOCO reported stronger valuing of their identification with their in-groups, which in turn was associated with higher levels of self-esteem. These findings shed new light on the social-psychological dynamics of DOCO.

Keywords:

• Death
• terror management
• bereavement
• group identity
• self-esteem

Notes

1. In the present studies, a “close other” is loosely defined by whether participants report having “experienced the death of a person that you are close to”. We wanted to rely on participants’ own perception of whether a close other had died rather than impose our own definition of whom a person close to you is.

2. The cell sizes for the 3 × 3 two-way MANOVA were as follows. Among students who had not experienced DOCO, 116 participants reported that they had not experienced a romantic breakup, 107 participants had experienced a non-recent romantic breakup (more than one year before the study), and 99 participants had experienced a recent romantic breakup (within the last year). Among participants who experienced DOCO more than one year before the study, 103 participants had not experienced a romantic breakup, 150 participants had experienced a non-recent romantic breakup, and 147 participants had experienced a romantic breakup recently. Among participants who experienced DOCO recently (within the last year), 39 participants had not experienced a romantic breakup, 71 participants had experienced a non-recent romantic breakup, and 72 participants had experienced a romantic breakup recently.