Mortality salience and the desire for offspring

Research on terror management theory (TMT) illustrates that following mortality salience (MS) people defend their cultural world-views and bolster self-esteem to transcend death. Recently, research additionally showed that MS increased self-reports of the number of children desired in Dutch men but not in Dutch women. We conducted three studies to further investigate the role of desire for offspring in terror management. In Study 1, we conceptually replicated previous findings for Germany and found increased desire for offspring following NIS in both men and women. Extending prior research Study 2 revealed that following NIS not only was the accessibility of death-related thoughts increased, but also the accessibility of thoughts related to offspring. Finally, Study 3 suggested that the NIS effect on ingroup bias was eliminated under conditions of offspring salience. Relating these findings to TMT, anticipated or actual offspring is discussed as a buffer against existential anxiety. (C) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.