Mortality salience and the desire for offspring

Threat and Defense

“…Beyond such indiscriminate affiliation, mortality and other threats motivate proximity to secure attachment figures (Florian & Mikulincer, 1998;Hart et al, 2005;, heighten the accessibility of cognitive representations of attachment figures and themes (Mikulincer, Birnbaum, Woddis, & Nachmias, 2000;Mikulincer, Gillath, & Shaver, 2002), and increase desire for parenthood (Fritsche et al, 2007;Wisman & Goldenberg, 2005). Mortality salience similarly improves recall of positive maternal interactions, inhibits recall of negative maternal interactions, and increases attraction to strangers described as similar to one's parent .…”

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

“…The present results have important implications for research on terror management theory. Specifically, several terror management theorists have argued that parent-child relationships are important at reducing anxieties associated with mortality awareness (Cox et al, 2008;Fritsche et al, 2007;Wisman & Goldenberg, 2005;Yaakobi et al, 2014). For instance, parenthood can serve as a literal form of immortality by passing one's genes onto future generations (Lifton, 1979).…”

My role is my castle — The appeal of family roles after experiencing social exclusion

“…For example, Florian, Mikulincer and Hirschberger (2002) found that both men and women reported increased romantic commitment to their partners when they were primed with mortality salience; and Kastenmüller and colleagues revealed that the threat of terrorism decreased occupational networking and increased reconnection with family and friends for both sexes (Kastenmüller et al, accepted for publication). In addition, Fritsche et al (2007) found that both anticipated and actual offspring serve as a buffer against the existential anxiety of mortality salience by satisfying attachment motivation. It can be summarised that individuals seem to search for familial affiliation in times of threat and social uncertainty.…”