Death Memories, Meaning Making, & Death Anxiety
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Abstract: It is no surprise that people tend to avoid thinking about specific death memories and the emotions involved in death-related experiences. Even still, it is important for researchers to analyze and understand how these death-related events influence the ability of people to use meaning making strategies in order to cope with the loss of loved ones. The current study examined the relationship between qualitatively coded meaning-making strategies in participant-reported death memories and death anxiety. Memory narratives were coded by two independent raters using the meaning making coding scheme developed by MacKay and Bluck (2010). This coding scheme included the following five categories: benefit-finding, responsibility assignment, imbuing experience with religious significance, imbuing experience with supernatural significance, and personal growth. The sample was comprised of 328 students at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and their family members. Participants were 18-76 years old (M = 30.81, SD = 16.67). Measures used included the Death Attitude Profile- Revised (DAPR), Revised Collett-Lester Fear of Death and Dying Scale (RCL), a Death Memory Questionnaire, and participant demographic questions. Results indicated that participants whose death memory was coded as containing one or more meaning-making strategies scored significantly lower than those who did not use meaning-making strategies on the following subscales: DAPR- Death Avoidance, F (1, 312 ) = 6.98, p < .01; RCL- Own Death, F (1, 313) = 8.18, p < .01; and RCL- Total, F (1, 313) = 4.85, p < .05. These results suggest that the use of meaning-making strategies following a death-related event may aid in reducing death avoidance and death anxiety. Allowing individuals an opportunity to express their memories surrounding death provides for a therapeutic resource to cope with grief and loss, as well to provide a useful means of determining whether or not a patient is suffering from death anxiety.
Abstract for publication: People often avoid thinking about specific death memories and the emotions surrounding death-related experiences. The current study examined the relationship between qualitatively coded meaning-making strategies in participant-reported death memories and death anxiety. Participants whose death memory was coded as containing meaning-making strategies scored significantly lower on death avoidance and fear of death compared to those participants without meaning-making strategies. These results suggest that using meaning-making strategies following a death-related event aids in reducing death avoidance and death anxiety. Allowing individuals an opportunity to express these memories provides for a therapeutic resource to cope with grief, loss, and death anxiety.
