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，意识到死亡的必然性在追求意义和生活中的意义和价值中起着重要作用，因此影响了非常多样化的人类行为。超过300项研究为TMT的中央命题提供了融合的支持。老年人比大多数TMT研究中研究过的年轻人更接近死亡。此外，随着年龄的增长，人们经常经历变化，使他们想起他们的死亡率，并在其文化环境中威胁他们的自我价值。这表明随着一个年龄的增长，与死亡有关的问题及其相关的问题可能会变得越来越困扰。但是，关于长者如何处理死亡问题的研究表明，如果有的话，他们报告的对死亡的恐惧少于年轻人的恐惧，以及对老年人的一般心理调整的越来越多的文献表明，在大多数情况下，在大多数情况下，老年人比年轻人更好地调整了年轻人。但是，其他研究表明，许多老年人在焦虑，抑郁和认知僵化方面遇到了重大问题。拟议的研究有三个目标：首先，探索年轻人和老年人对死亡提醒的方式的相似性和差异。其次，要研究一些可能性但并非所有老年人通过调查个人差异在认知僵硬和一般心理调整中的作用，以作为老年人如何应对死亡问题的可能调整，从而使某些但不是所有老年人都过渡到了不同形式的应对死亡率。第三要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，而老年人更有可能依靠社会情感选择性，兴趣，对子孙后代的乐观情绪以及对过去的方向而不是年轻的对手。通过探索老年人如何适应其更大的死亡接近，这项工作将揭示应对策略的发展变化，这些变化影响了老年人生活的各个方面。鉴于与年轻人的研究有强有力的证据表明，与死亡有关的焦虑在心理适应和混乱，身体健康，人际关系以及适应生活变化的能力中起着作用，这项研究对以后的生活有影响。