From the Grave to the Cradle: Evidence That Mortality Salience Engenders a Desire for Offspring

On the basis of terror management theory, the authors hypothesized that reminders of mortality (mortality

salience) should promote the desire for offspring to the extent that it does not conflict with other

self-relevant worldviews that also serve to manage existential concerns. In 3 studies, men, but not

women, desired more children after mortality salience compared with various control conditions. In

support of the authors’ hypothesis that women’s desire for offspring was inhibited as a function of

concerns about career success, Study 3 showed that career strivings moderated the effect of mortality

salience on a desire for offspring for female participants only; furthermore, Study 4 revealed that when

the compatibility of having children and a career was made salient, female participants responded to

mortality salience with an increased number of desired children. Taken together, the findings suggest that

a desire for offspring can function as a terror management defense mechanism.