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Cited by 18Death Anxiety and Social ExclusionDeath, Funerary Practices, and MourningAging and Gerontology Research

Mortality salience effects on the life expectancy estimates of older adults as a function of neuroticism

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Maxfield, Molly, Solomon, Sheldon, Pyszczynski, Tom, Greenberg, Jeff·2010·Journal of Aging Research
DOI 10.4061/2010/260123PMC PMC2997504
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Abstract

Research has shown that reminders of mortality lead people to engage in defenses to minimize the anxiety such thoughts could arouse. In accord with this notion, younger adults reminded of mortality engage in behaviors aimed at denying vulnerability to death. However, little is known about the effects of mortality reminders on older adults. The present study examined the effect of reminders of death on older adults' subjective life expectancy. Mortality reminders did not significantly impact the life expectancy estimates of old-old adults. Reminders of death did however lead to shorter life expectancy estimates among young-old participants low in neuroticism but longer life expectancy estimates among young-old participants high in neuroticism, suggesting that this group was most defensive in response to reminders of death.

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  • The majority of each sample was under 60 years of age, below the threshold where MS begin to reverse.

    “However, the majority of each sample was under 6o years of age, below the threshold where MS begin to reverse [111].”

    From Not so terrifying after all? A set of failed replications of the mortality salience effects of Terror Management Theory (2023) · cites this paper as [111]

    The Results (section 3.1; page unavailable) show that mortality salience affected life-expectancy estimates differently among older adults depending on neuroticism, and the Discussion (section 4; page unavailable) describes changes in coping with advancing age. The paper does not establish age 60 as a threshold at which mortality-salience effects reverse. Its Participants section (2.1; page unavailable) describes its own sample, not the citing paper’s samples, so it cannot verify that most people in each of those samples were under 60. (LLM, conf=0.78)

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Research works printed but not linked: 24

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Maxfield, M., Solomon, S., Pyszczynski, T., & Greenberg, J.
Affiliations
  • University of Colorado Colorado Springs (US)
  • Skidmore College (US)
  • University of Arizona (US)
Corresponding author
Maxfield, Molly
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Aging Research
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2010
Volume
2010
Pages
1-8
ISSN
  • 2090-2204 (ISSN-L)
  • 2090-2212
DOI
10.4061/2010/260123
PMC
PMC2997504
OpenAlex
W2067605077
Cited by
18
References
9
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2012: 1
FWCI
0.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Aging Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
National Institute on Aging (RO1 AGO22910-01A2)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
Keywords
mortality salience, subjective life expectancy, neuroticism, older adults, young-old, fear of death, defense mechanisms, aging

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