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The present work built on self-determination theory, terror management theory, and related existential and humanistic perspectives to test the mediating role of symbolic immortality in the association between autonomy and meaning in life. In two samples (Sample 1, n = 1,414; Sample 2, n = 882), autonomy was significantly associated with symbolic immortality, which in turn was significantly associated with meaning in life. Moreover, in both samples, multiple regression analyses supported the view that autonomy is a unique and significant predictor of symbolic immortality, and the proposed indirect effect remained significant after controlling for self-esteem. These results extend prior work addressing autonomy and meaning in life and point to interesting empirical directions for further understanding the existential role of autonomy in managing death-related concerns.

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This research explored the relationship between the death of a close other (DOCO) and terror management processes. In Study 1 (n ¼ 810), university students who experienced DOCO (vs. not) reported higher university and American identification; greater self-esteem and meaning in life; lower death-thought accessibility; greater "death-as-passage" representations; and higher belief in an everlasting soul. We pre-registered Study 2 (n ¼ 497) as an attempt to replicate these findings; although the patterns of means were consistent with Study 1, the tests did not reach statistical significance. However, analyses on the merged data (N ¼ 1,307) supported the present theoretical analysis.