Citation

Yaakobi E, Mikulincer M, Shaver PR. Person. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 2014; 40(6): 762-774.

Affiliation

1Ono Academic College, Kiryat-Ono, Israel.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0146167214525473

PMID

24692105

Abstract

Six studies examined the hypothesis that parenthood serves a terror management function, with effects that are moderated by attachment orientations. In Studies 1 and 2, mortality salience, as compared with control conditions, increased the self-reported vividness and implicit accessibility of parenthood-related cognitions. In Studies 3 and 4, activating parenthood-related thoughts reduced death-thought accessibility and romantic intimacy following mortality salience. In Study 5, heightening the salience of parenthood-related obstacles increased death-thought accessibility. Across the five studies, the effects were significant mainly among participants who scored relatively low on avoidant attachment. In Study 6, avoidant people also reacted to mortality salience with more positive parenthood-related cognitions following an experimental manipulation that made parenthood compatible with their core strivings. Overall, the findings suggest that parenthood can have an anxiety-buffering effect that is moderated by attachment-related avoidance.

Language: en