Loss and lastingness? Further exploring the relationship between the death of a close other, belief in an everlasting soul, and terror management processes

Abstract

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.