Terror management theory (TMT) posits that cultural worldviews function to allay concerns about human mortality. Preliminary research with older adults has indicated that seniors do not respond to death reminders in the same way as their younger counterparts. The purpose of the current study was to test a developmentally relevant construct that may buffer death anxiety in later life. It was hypothesized that Erikson's concept of generativity may encompass death-denying properties for older adults. One hundred and seventy-nine seniors were recruited to determine if subtle mortality salience inductions would lead participants to rate their own generativity as higher than after a blatant induction, or no induction, after controlling for pre-induction generativity. As expected, participants exposed to subtle death primes rated themselves as having higher levels of generativity than the other two groups after co-varying pre-induction generativity. Explanations are discussed in light of the literatures on TMT and generativity.

Terror management theory (TMT) offers an empirical framework to explain how human beings function despite their awareness and fear of death. Research on TMT has shown that to buffer against death anxiety, people strive to meet the standards of their cultural worldview. Although the theoretical bases and experimental findings of TMT research have been compelling within social psychology, their application to mental health and especially to psychotherapy integration has never been properly examined. We argue that a more comprehensive integration of TMT findings with psychotherapy research and practice can prompt a deeper understanding of psychopathology, mental health, and clinical intervention. As a starting point for this integration, we review the existing literature on TMT and psychopathology and offer the TMT conceptualization of death anxiety as a hallmark example of the consistencies and gaps between TMT and traditional clinical psychology. Four key areas of future inquiry are proposed that may yield meaningful theoretical and clinical insights and lead to greater integration of TMT with contemporary psychotherapy research and practice. A clinical case example is also presented to illustrate the potential application of TMT principles to the treatment of death anxiety.

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