Considering the unspoken: the role of death cognition in quality of life among women with and without breast cancer

Death Concerns, Benefit-Finding, and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, reminders of death are particularly salient. Although much terror management theory research demonstrates that people engage in defensive tactics to manage mortality awareness, other work shows that existential concerns can motivate growth-oriented actions to improve health. The present study explored the associative link between coronavirus anxieties, fear of death, and participants' well-being. Results, using structural equation modeling, found that increased mortality concerns stemming from COVID-19 were associated with heightened benefit finding (e.g., relationship investment, gratefulness, patience) from the pandemic. Increased benefit finding, in turn, was related to higher life satisfaction, meaning in life, self-esteem, resilience, and vitality while also correlating negatively with depression and stress scores. There was no evidence for reverse mediation in that fear of mortality did not predict well-being through coronavirus worries. Overall, although many persons have experienced mental health concerns (e.g., fear, stress) as a function of the COVID-19 pandemic, our findings demonstrate positive benefits that paradoxically follow in terms of an increased appreciation of life, improved relationships, and better health.

Anxiety buffers and the threat of extreme automation: a terror management theory perspective

Purpose

The advent of extreme automation from new technologies such as artificial intelligence portends a massive increase in unemployment. The psychological impact of this threat on the workforce is critically important. This paper aims to examine the functioning of individuals' anxiety buffers in response to this threat.

Design/methodology/approach

A two-stage mixed-methods design is used. In stage 1, qualitative data are gathered through semi-structured interviews. In stage 2, quantitative data are collected through two experiments to assess the psychological impact of exposure to the threat.

Findings

Exposure to the threat of extreme automation reduces self-esteem, faith in the worldview and attachment security. When self-esteem and attachment security are under attack, they are ineffective as anxiety buffers, and anxiety levels increase. Additionally, there is a distal effect such that during a period of distraction, the threatened anxiety buffers are reinforced and return to their normal levels.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited to a homogenous culture in which work is highly salient. Future research should include other cultures, other methods of exposure and further examine the distal effects.

Originality/value

The study examines the previously underexplored issue of individuals' psychological response to the impending changes in the workforce because of technological advancements.

Trajectories of Current and Predicted Satisfaction With One's Life Following a Cancer Diagnosis

Background

Poor physical and mental health is common among cancer survivors, but little is known about how cancer influences life satisfaction and expectations about one's future, both of which may subsequently influence health decisions and outcomes.

Purpose

The current study examined how a cancer diagnosis influences current and predicted future life satisfaction in seven domains, including family, finances, work, and health.

Methods

We leveraged data from three waves of the Midlife in the United States study (N = 6,389) and examined the relation between new and past cancer diagnoses on satisfaction using generalized estimating equations. We also compared participants' predicted satisfaction to the actual satisfaction they reported at later waves of data collection, and examined whether concordance between the two differed by cancer history.

Results

A cancer diagnosis was associated with a decline in satisfaction about one's present health and sex life, ps < .05, but satisfaction with all other domains remained steady or improved. In contrast, predictions about the future became and remained less optimistic than the predictions of those without cancer across all life domains except relationships with children, ps < .05. Within-subjects comparisons of predicted and actual satisfaction suggest those without a cancer history were optimistic in their predictions across all life domains except health whereas survivors were more accurate in their predictions.

Conclusions

Given the many ways in which expectations about the future can influence decision making, behavior, and health, survivors' attenuated optimistic outlooks may influence their health and well-being.

Delay and death-thought accessibility: a meta-analysis

The dual-process component of Terror Management Theory (TMT) proposes that different types of threats lead to increases in death-thought accessibility (DTA) after different delay intervals. Experimental studies of terror management threats' effect on DTA were collected and coded for their use of explicitly death-related (vs. not explicitly death-related) threats, and for their use of delay and task-switching during the delay. Results reveal that studies using death-related threats achieved larger DTA effect-sizes when they included more task-switching or a longer delay between the threat and the DTA measurement. In contrast, studies using threats that were not explicitly death-related achieved smaller DTA effect-sizes when they included more task-switching between the threat and the DTA measurement. These findings provide partial support for the dual-process component's predictions regarding delay and DTA. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Death concerns and psychological well-being in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder

PURPOSE

Utilizing a terror management theory perspective, the present research examined whether having a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with underlying cognitions and explicit worries about death, and their roles in psychological well-being.

METHOD

147 mothers of children with ASD (n=74) and typically developing children (n=73) completed a fear of death scale, as well as measures of death-thought accessibility, positive and negative affect, depression, and anxiety.

RESULTS

Following previous research, mothers of children with ASD reported worse psychological health. Additionally, they evidenced greater death-thought accessibility compared to mothers of typically developing children, but did not differ in explicit worries about mortality. Greater death-thought accessibility, in turn, mediated the influence of ASD diagnosis on negative affect, depression, and anxiety.

CONCLUSION

The current study offers an initial understanding of the association between mortality concerns and psychological health for mothers of children with ASD. Further, it underscores the importance of health care providers' efforts to attend to, and educate parents about, their thoughts of mortality, even if the parent does not acknowledge such concerns.

WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS

The present study examined the impact of both implicit and explicit worries about death in parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Specifically, we were able to demonstrate that increased death-thought accessibility among mothers of children with ASD was associated with worse psychological health. While it is possible for parents of children with ASD to report conscious worries about death, there were no observed differences on this measure. As far as we know, this work is the first to empirically examine the prevalence of mortality-related concerns in this population and the subsequent effects of death-thought accessibility on psychological health. This is an important avenue of research as parents of children with ASD may experience greater worries about leaving their children upon death with no one to care for them, or to leave their children in the care of individuals who may not understand their son or daughter's unique needs. Additionally, the current findings highlight the importance of addressing mortality-related concerns, even when they may not be explicitly recognized, among parents of children with ASD. Given the effectiveness of parent education programs for children with ASD, a primary avenue for intervention may be education. Training care providers in ways to better discuss thoughts of death may help to alleviate stress and foster greater psychological well-being.

Broadening the cancer and cognition landscape: the role of self-regulatory challenges

BACKGROUND

The potentially detrimental effects of cancer and related treatments on cognitive functioning have emerged as one of the key foci of cancer survivorship research, but little is known about how psychological variables other than depression influence these relationships. To illustrate the potential of social psychological perspectives, we examine how a self-regulatory analysis and specific self-regulatory challenges of contending with cancer-related expectancies and stereotypes provide conceptual frameworks for understanding some of the potential causes and consequences of cancer-related cognitive deficits.

METHODS

Literatures on cancer-related cognitive deficits, self-regulatory ego depletion, expectancy stereotypes, and their points of convergence are briefly reviewed.

RESULTS

A review and conceptual integration of relevant literatures suggest that coping with cancer can impair self-regulatory capacity. There is an overlap between cognitive deficits associated with self-regulatory challenge and with cancer and its treatment, and restoring self-regulatory resources can attenuate cancer-related cognitive deficits. Examination of specific regulatory challenges of contending with expectancies and stereotypes related to treatment suggests insights that can inform when and among whom cognitive deficits may most likely emerge.

CONCLUSIONS

Integrating social psychological ideas with a substantial knowledge base can illustrate novel research trajectories that can deepen our understanding of cancer-related cognitive deficits and their impact on psychosocial well-being.