Death, fear and anxiety may sound like heavy subjects, but they are at the center of a serious study on the meaning of life. A study affiliated with the University of Florida College of Nursing, recently published in Palliative & Supportive Care, explored how thoughts of death affect people emotionally.
Researchers surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults in a 20-minute online study that included a subtle mortality reminder designed to make participants briefly aware of their own mortality. They then measured what psychologists call “death-thought accessibility,” a task in which participants complete word puzzles that can reveal whether thoughts of death are coming closer to the surface.
But there was an unexpected finding: The anticipated increase in death-related thoughts did not occur.
“It is possible the online format made the task too easy to brush off — more ‘Beetlejuice’ than ‘The Exorcist,’” joked study co-author Diana Wilkie, PhD, RN, FANN, Prairieview Trust – Earl and Margo Powers Endowed Professor at the UF College of Nursing.
The study, financially supported by the UF Center for Palliative Care Research & Education, a research center within the College of Nursing, still offered valuable insights. People who felt lonely tended to worry more about death. In contrast, those who experienced personal growth or a sense of peace were less likely to fear it. Attachment style also played a role. People with an avoidant attachment style — who prefer to stay emotionally distant and rely on themselves — reported feeling less lonely and less afraid of death. Meanwhile, people with an anxious attachment style — who seek closeness but often fear rejection or abandonment — reported greater death anxiety.
The takeaway? How we relate to others shapes how we face life’s ultimate reality.
“Relationships matter deeply in how we process mortality,” Wilkie said. “Feeling connected to others seems to be a key part of growing through the awareness of death rather than being paralyzed by it.”
The research team now hopes to refine its approach to studying mortality awareness and develop better tools to measure the unconscious ways people process death. Their goal is to understand how acknowledging mortality can be used not to fuel fear, but to foster greater meaning, connection and purpose.
“Existential maturation does not take away the pain of loss,” said Linda Emanuel, MD, PhD, professor emeritus at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
and the study’s lead author. “But it can give people the psychological and relational resources to process that pain and live more fully.”
