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The role of religion in moderating the impact of life events on material life goals: some evidence in support of terror management theory

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 17; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13674676.2012.745494

1469-9737

C. Harry Hui, Stephanie W. Y. Chan, Esther Yuet Ying Lau, Shu Fai Cheung, Doris Shu Ying Mok,

Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health

How would religion and a life event carrying an existential threat (LEET) jointly impact a person's life goals of becoming wealthy and successful in one's career? Goal reprioritisation, socioemotional selectivity, and gerotranscendence theories predict a shift away from material goals following a LEET, independent of the effect of religion. However, terror management theory (TMT) predicts that the effect of death thoughts depends on one's prevailing cultural values. As religion can be regarded as a culture, it is possible that Christians' and non-believers' material life goals would be differentially altered by LEET. Data from 1259 young Chinese adults reveal no main effect of LEET, but a strong effect of religion. Moreover, there was an interaction effect between LEET and religion on material life goals: LEET weakened material goals for Christians but not for non-believers. These findings suggest that TMT is more suitable than the other theories for predicting life goal changes.