Identity, meaning in life, and death anxiety: When authenticity and self-worth matter

Koç V., Seçgin P., Kahraman F., Kaş Coşkun A., Candan Y. Ö. N.

Death Studies, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/07481187.2026.2659892
  • Dergi Adı: Death Studies
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Abstracts in Social Gerontology, CINAHL, Education Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), MEDLINE, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Psycinfo, Religion and Philosophy Collection, Violence & Abuse Abstracts, Social Sciences Abstracts
  • Marmara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Although meaning in life (MIL) is broadly associated with lower death anxiety (DA) and identity has been proposed as a source of meaning, both relationships show inconsistencies across studies, suggesting that self-evaluative processes such as self-worth and authenticity may condition their effects. The present study examined two sets of conditional associations: whether self-worth and authenticity moderate the identity–MIL association, and whether they moderate the MIL–DA association. A community sample of 404 Turkish adults (62% women) completed self-report measures of identity, MIL, DA, self-worth, and authenticity. Moderation analyses (PROCESS Model 2) revealed that authenticity moderated the collective identity–MIL association, which was stronger at lower authenticity levels and attenuated at higher levels. Self-worth moderated the MIL–DA association, which was stronger among individuals with higher comparative self-worth. Findings suggest that identity–meaning and meaning–death anxiety associations are not uniform but may vary as a function of self-evaluative processes.