Living Authentically in the Face of Death: Predictors of Autonomous Motivation Among Individuals Exposed to Chronic Mortality Cues Compared to a Matched Community Sample.

Despite research demonstrating positive outcomes of conscious death reflection, very little research directly examines a core proposition of existential psychologists—that death reflection provides an opportunity for more authentic living. The current study compared individuals chronically exposed to genuine mortality cues (funeral/cemetery workers, n = 107) to a matched control sample (n = 121) on autonomous motivation. It also assessed the moderating role of six constructs implicated in growth-oriented processing of death reflection: psychological flexibility, curiosity, neutral death acceptance, death anxiety, approach-oriented coping, and avoidant coping. Funeral/cemetery workers were significantly higher on autonomous motivation, and death-related work was found to have a more positive association with autonomous motivation for those higher on flexibility and lower on death anxiety. This has implications for both understanding which individuals are most likely to experience growth motivations when confronting death, and potential avenues for facilitating these motivations to enhance well-being.

Keywords: death reflection; mortality cues; authenticity; autonomous motivation; individual differences

Existential psychologists (e.g., [23]; [44]) have long acknowledged the potential for death awareness to induce both profound anxiety and, in overcoming this anxiety, the pursuit of a more authentic and fulfilling way of living through reprioritizing one's values and goals. While both experimental and non-experimental research traditions have acknowledged that contemplating mortality can have positive outcomes ([39]), there has been very limited direct empirical study of authentic goal-striving in this context. This study therefore brings the focus back to the existential argument that confronting mortality can specifically facilitate growth toward more authentic living, as expressed through autonomous motivation for life goals. To this end, we compared levels of autonomous motivation between a group of people experiencing frequent, naturally occurring mortality cues (funeral and cemetery workers) and a demographically matched control sample. We then examined whether chronic exposure to death was associated with greater autonomous motivation for those higher on a set of personal characteristics theorized to facilitate growth-oriented processing of death awareness.

Authenticity can be summarized as maintaining a mindful and unbiased awareness of one's internal states and self-aspects (e.g., emotions, beliefs, and values), and striving to behave in a congruent manner ([19]; [29]). More authentic behaviors are therefore more fully endorsed by the individual, based upon their value-system and wider self-concept. Since individuals are in a constant state of self-development, their self-concept and strivings to enact it require continual reassessment and adjustment—thus, authenticity necessitates open self-awareness and non-defensive flexibility ([19]). Authenticity here is conceptualized as a process or perpetual act of "becoming" ([18]), as opposed to a categorical status that can be achieved.

Authenticity is expressed through autonomous (self-determined) goal pursuits ([29]). Self-determination theory ([28]) delineates a continuum of autonomous motivation, with the most autonomous being intrinsic motivation for activities that are inherently valued, interesting or enjoyable (e.g., intimacy, self-knowledge, or community engagement). Extrinsic motivation involves pursuing activities for the outcomes they generate, and may or may not be autonomous depending on their degree of internalization or self-endorsement. Non-autonomous extrinsic motivations may be externally regulated (by coercive external factors like rewards and punishments) or introjected (driven by internal pressures like shame or guilt); whereas autonomous extrinsic motivations may be identified or integrated (fully endorsed as personally important or well-integrated within one's overarching value-system). Consequently, although intrinsic motivations are inherently authentic, extrinsic motivations are not necessarily inauthentic. Despite a historical tendency to consider extrinsic motivations as fundamentally negative and contradistinctive to intrinsic motivations ([29]), it is clear that research interested in authentic goal-striving must take the full continuum of autonomous motivation into account.

While there is theoretical debate around the construct of authenticity (see [2]; [15]), the above definition evades several key criticisms by not requiring the existence of a "true self" which one aligns their behaviors to, nor a categorical distinction between authenticity and inauthenticity. Rather, authentic living is proposed to occur on a continuum according to the degree of values-based endorsement or internalization of one's motivations. Self-determination theory argues that there is substantial value in such a construct, given it is considered integral to the satisfaction of basic psychological needs that are conducive to well-being ([28]). Indeed, considerable research has corroborated the association with well-being indicators (see [8]; [19]), providing an impetus for research aimed at clarifying the conditions that facilitate more authentic living.

Within the literature on terror management theory (TMT; [34]), subtle or subconscious forms of death awareness have been found to elicit rigid defense of one's cultural worldview, often with negative outcomes (e.g., prejudice). However, in response to more conscious, naturally occurring death awareness, people commonly report positive outcomes that appear to reflect personal growth rather than defensiveness. Considerable research on posttraumatic growth ([37]) and near-death experiences (NDEs; [22]) has documented a wide range of growth outcomes which follow personal confrontations with mortality (e.g., a cancer diagnosis or near fatal car crash). Such events are inherently distressing or destabilizing, often triggering a reassessment of one's values and beliefs which leads to positive change. However, growth is not necessarily a linear process with a binary outcome and is not universally expected in such circumstances. Positive growth outcomes may occur alongside distress, and individuals require sufficient time and capacity to cognitively process a trauma and make meaning from it ([22]; [37]). Additionally, there is evidence of a curvilinear relationship between growth and posttraumatic stress ([31]), suggesting lower growth for those with the most and least severe distress (e.g., those with the most and least advanced stage of cancer; [20]).

Common themes in self-reported growth outcomes include a greater present-focus, an increased sense of self-reliance, a clarification of what is valuable or meaningful in life, and a consequent shift in one's priorities (particularly away from extrinsic values including materialism, fame, and physical attractiveness; [22]; [37]). These growth outcomes appear to reflect authentic self-development, and although this similarity has been noted previously ([16]; [21]), there is a considerable gap in published empirical research directly assessing the construct of authenticity as an outcome of contemplating death.

To explain the apparent paradox of both defensive and growth-oriented responses to death awareness reported in the literature, [5] developed a model of dual-existential systems. This model proposes that defensiveness and growth emerge through two distinct processing systems which are often activated under different conditions. When one's mortality is primed in a vague or subtle manner, as within TMT studies, it is argued to lead to abstract information processing that relies upon abstract features of the self (e.g., group categorizations and cultural worldviews) to inform one's responses. On the other hand, deeply personalized confrontations with death as occur in trauma and NDEs are argued to activate specific information processing, whereby responses are based upon what is most personally relevant and specific to one's life (e.g., personal needs and values). Additionally, the more long-term, conscious processing of death awareness in the latter cases has been identified as an important distinguishing feature that facilitates deliberate shifts in goal-striving ([39]).

While the NDE and posttraumatic growth findings are predominantly reliant upon retrospective self-reports of growth, they are reinforced by experimental research demonstrating that deeper, more conscious contemplations of death have less negative and more positive outcomes (see [39]). In particular, [6] developed a death reflection task to induce more specific, personal thoughts of death than the inductions used within the TMT literature. After completing this death reflection task, participants with a higher extrinsic value orientation (prioritizing money, fame and beauty) exhibited significantly decreased extrinsic behavior (greed). In contrast, participants exhibited increased greed after a subtle mortality salience induction. While these findings potentially imply more authentic functioning after death reflection—given greed is characteristically an externally regulated (and therefore non-autonomous) behavior—these studies did not directly assess autonomous motivation. Without assessing the degree of internalization of this extrinsic behavior (identified or integrated extrinsic motivations), firm conclusions cannot be made regarding authentic goal-striving.

To date, very few empirical research projects have explicitly examined authenticity as an outcome of death awareness. However, in three studies, [30] found that when participants were asked to recall a personal experience which made them think about their own mortality, the vividness of the recalled memory was associated with higher levels of perceived (trait) authenticity, in addition to greater importance of current personal goals and more intrinsic motivation. Although this research was correlational in nature and had somewhat limited control regarding the types of mortality experiences recalled, [1] found corroborating experimental evidence. Inducing death reflection (opposed to subtle mortality salience) was found to increase state autonomous motivation (rather than only intrinsic motivation) among those high in trait curiosity. Additionally, those high in psychological flexibility exhibited increased autonomous motivation in response to any thoughts of death, likely due to an inclination toward deeper, more mindful processing of threatening information. These findings increase confidence that confronting mortality can lead to more authentic outcomes (at least for certain individuals); however, lab-induced death reflection may not extend to real-world confrontations with death. Conscious and specific contemplation of mortality may therefore have the potential to enhance authentic goal-striving, although there is a need for further research into the factors which facilitate these outcomes, and their manifestation in everyday settings.

Many employees routinely experience mortality cues as part of their occupation. However, limited work has explored the ways that death awareness may emerge in the workplace, and the divergent outcomes which may result. In beginning to address this gap, [11] developed a contingency model of death awareness in the workplace, based in part on the work of [6]. They differentiate between two main forms of death awareness. Death anxiety is defined as a negative affective experience involving fear and dread of mortality ([11]; [42]). It is processed in the "hot" experiential system, which is characterized by fast, reactive, automatic and emotionally charged processing that occurs preconsciously, often on the basis of cognitive heuristics. This system can be likened to the processes underlying terror management defenses. Death reflection, however, is processed in the "cool" cognitive system, characterized by enduring, intentional and rational processing. This is proposed to engender values-based, prosocial outcomes akin to the more specific and conscious forms of death reflection above. Workplace mortality cues that are acute (e.g., workplace accidents or bomb threats) are expected to induce death anxiety rather than reflection, as sudden, short-lived cues are likely to elicit reactive emotional responses that fade after the cue is no longer present. Chronic mortality cues (e.g., dealing with the dead or dying on a daily basis) are expected to induce death reflection rather than anxiety, given that habituation to enduring cues is likely to result in emotional desensitization, allowing for more deliberate and prolonged cognitive processing. Therefore, dangerous jobs (e.g., firefighting) and dirty work (e.g., funeral work; [11]) which inherently involve chronic exposure to mortality cues are more likely to elicit death reflection, which may in turn facilitate growth outcomes like autonomous motivation.

Despite calls for research (e.g., [36]), few studies have explicitly tested this model's claim that death reflection resulting from one's work may produce positive outcomes (see [33] for the impact of death anxiety on work-related well-being). Some TMT research in fact proposes contrary expectations, suggesting that exposure to real, long-term and personal mortality threats amongst soldiers is related to heightened worldview defense ([7]; [40]); however, these studies have suffered from methodological issues that limit inferences, or have reported mixed and inconsistent findings. In fact, some evidence suggested that more actual threat of death related to greater internal motivations for being a soldier ([40]), which suggests a shift toward more authentic goal-striving rather than defensiveness. One TMT study proposed that chronic exposure to mortality cues relates to chronically higher worldview defense, in that funeral workers in India supported their culture to a greater extent than an unmatched sample of laborers ([10]). However, unlike the laborers, the funeral worker sample did not defensively inflate their adherence to their culture following MS priming, which arguably suggests an immunity from the typical TMT defense mechanisms. Furthermore, worldview defense reactions emerge when thoughts of death are subconscious ([34]), which does not reflect the chronic, conscious exposure funeral workers experience. Given the sparse and conflicting findings in the literature, there is a clear need to explore the alternate expectation of more growth-oriented outcomes in such samples.

[45] investigated the positive outcomes of death reflection expected by [11] by first developing a self-report measure of death reflection. This was found to be distinct from death anxiety and positively correlated with exposure to mortality cues and life satisfaction amongst firefighters. Furthermore, some evidence was found to suggest that death reflection may assist in maintaining prosocial motivations for coworkers, in that mortality cues predicted lower concern for coworkers' safety when death reflection was low but not when death reflection was high. While these findings are encouraging, the impact of workplace death reflection on autonomous motivation remains untested.

Models of positive responses to death awareness all acknowledge potential individual differences in the proclivity toward growth ([5]; [11]; [39]). Thus, we do not expect that every person contemplating death will react by behaving in more authentic ways. Individuals with the necessary personal resources or predisposition to openly explore and capitalize on the opportunity for growth afforded by conscious death reflection—or those who are more inclined to consciously reflect on death in the first place—are more likely to exhibit authentic self-development. Despite this, research into the various personal characteristics which may facilitate death reflection or growth-oriented responding (i.e., "facilitators" of growth) is limited. We therefore propose several constructs which are of interest in this regard.

Psychological flexibility refers to adopting a mindful, non-defensive orientation to one's inner states, so that in the face of negative or threatening experiences, one may flexibly maintain or adjust behavior to pursue valued goals ([3]). This open, mindful self-awareness is expected to facilitate more conscious reflection on one's mortality. Furthermore, mindful self-awareness and the uninhibited pursuit of personal goals are crucial for authentic self-development ([19]; [29]). In a related vein, curiosity is defined as an inclination to seek novelty, uncertainty, and challenges that expand one's worldview and sense of self ([17]). These qualities are likely to foster interest in, and reflection on, one's mortality (which is by nature uncertain and threatening); and additionally imply an interest in personal growth that is likely to enhance authentic responses to death. Both of these traits have been implicated in enhancing autonomous motivation after experimentally induced death awareness ([1]).

When exposed to frequent mortality cues, individuals possessing less fearful attitudes toward death are likely to be more open to reflecting on the implications of death in their life. As such, a neutral acceptance of death as a natural and inevitable reality that is neither welcomed nor feared may allow for more "cool" cognitive processing, and has been proposed to be an adaptive attitude that allows one to make the most of their life ([42]; [44]). On the other hand, death anxiety appears to stimulate information processing systems which are incompatible with death reflection and motivate avoidance of death-related thoughts ([11]).

Finally, the stressful nature of chronic exposure to mortality cues implies a potential role for coping strategies ([4]), whereby more adaptive or approach-oriented styles of coping would be expected to increase engagement in "cool," active and reflective processing of mortality; and maladaptive or avoidant strategies would be expected to decrease this type of processing and therefore relate to less authentic outcomes.

The current study aimed to build on past research examining authentic outcomes in the context of mortality-related recollections ([30]) or lab-induced death reflection ([1]), by maximizing ecological validity using a quasi-experimental design. Employees in the funeral and cemetery industries encounter consistent, confronting mortality cues as part of their daily work, which according to [11], places them under the type of chronic, vicarious death awareness that facilitates moderately high death reflection and low death anxiety. Such conditions are theoretically conducive to growth responses to death awareness, thus providing an ideal natural setting for examining authentic goal-striving as a potential outcome of confronting mortality, and thereby extending the above recent efforts to empirically test the assertions of existential theorists (e.g., [44]). Furthermore, studying the predictors of authentic goal-striving in this context can potentially offer insights into the nature and facilitation of death-related growth.

We hypothesized that funeral/cemetery workers would have significantly higher autonomous motivation than the control group (Hypothesis 1). In addition, given that certain personal characteristics were expected to increase growth responses to death reflection, we hypothesized that chronic exposure to mortality cues would more strongly predict autonomous motivation among those with more adaptive levels of the facilitator variables (that is, higher flexibility, curiosity, neutral death acceptance and approach-oriented coping, and lower death anxiety and avoidant coping; Hypothesis 2).

All study methods were approved by the University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (Protocol 2018/749). Participants were recruited from two sources over January to July 2019. Representing a group high in death reflection, 112 participants were sampled from a large funeral, cemetery and crematorium company operating in Australia and New Zealand. A poster advertising a voluntary study on well-being and coping within the workplace was displayed in employee lunchrooms. Those interested could request an anonymous link to the survey (hosted on Qualtrics) from members of the employee training team. It was made clear to consenting participants that responses were anonymous and employers would not have access to their data. To ensure this sample was chronically exposed to death, participants were asked about the frequency of exposure to mortality cues (graves or cemeteries, coffins, deceased persons, cremation ashes, grieving families, and images of or written information about the prior cues). Those experiencing mortality cues "very rarely (a few times a year)" or "occasionally (once or twice a month)" were excluded from analyses (n = 4), in addition to one participant with non-serious responses, leaving a total of 107 participants.

Of those remaining, 87.8% reported that their job involves exposure to five or six (out of six) of the listed mortality cues, and 93.5% reported exposure to them every day or most days. Participants were predominantly from Australia (90.7%, compared to 9.3% from New Zealand), had predominantly customer-facing roles (64.5%, compared to 15% administrative, 10.3% operational, and 10.3% managerial) and reported an average of 6.75 years (SD = 7.22; Mdn = 4) in their current job. While most positions held by participants do not require tertiary education, education levels varied in the sample (see Appendix 1). These jobs offered fair general working conditions (e.g., leave entitlements and benefits programs), all employees had access to an Employee Assistance Program, and salaries in this industry tend to be at or below national medians in Australia and New Zealand.

A paid control sample was recruited through Qualtrics online survey panels. Eligible participants were adults employed in an occupation unrelated to death, and not involving exposure to potentially traumatic or life-threatening situations (e.g., funeral workers, nurses, doctors, paramedics, firefighters, rescue workers, police officers, miners, trauma counselors, or military personnel). This sample was matched with the funeral/cemetery workers on key demographic characteristics: age, gender, ethnicity, highest level of education, and marital status. The control sample could only feasibly be recruited from within Australia, although the lack of any significant differences between Australian and New Zealander funeral/cemetery workers on all demographic or psychometric variables suggested that this was unlikely to negatively impact the matching strategy. Matching was completed by Qualtrics, whereby participants were sequentially recruited to achieve the target demographic proportions present in the funeral/cemetery worker sample as best as possible, while also recruiting sufficient participants to allow for the potential exclusion of ineligible or poor responders. After the removal of six participants either not fitting the inclusion criteria or with non-serious responses, 121 consenting participants remained in the control sample. Payment was administered by Qualtrics (approximately AUD$10 per participant).

A total of 228 participants (75.4% female) were therefore included in the present study. The median age group was 45–49 years, the mode level of education was a vocational qualification (50.9%), and the mode marital status was married or in a domestic partnership (75.4%; see Appendix 1 for further details). The sample was predominantly Caucasian/European (94.3%), followed by 3.9% Asian and 1.7% Maori, Indigenous Australian or Hispanic. This sample size was limited by the number of funeral/cemetery workers willing to participate.

As a measure of autonomous motivation, and thus, authentic goal-striving, participants were first asked to spend at least 5 min brainstorming a minimum of 10 personal projects or goals that they are currently working toward. Participants then selected the five projects most reflective of their motivations in general or which give the most comprehensive overview of their life. Participants were then asked four questions pertaining to the type of motivation they have for each of the five goals, respectively, assessing their degree of external, introjected, identified, and intrinsic motivations. Scores for each type of motivation are summed, and a weighted composite autonomous motivation score is calculated using the following formula: (2*intrinsic + identified) – (2*external + introjected). Higher scores reflect greater overall autonomous motivation (possible range = -120 to 120).

Psychological flexibility was assessed with 10 items capturing the tendency to be mindful of one's thoughts and emotions in order to pursue important goals, rather than avoiding inner experiences and behaving reactively (higher average scores reflect greater flexibility; possible range = 1–7).

Trait curiosity was measured with 10 items reflecting the degree to which one actively seeks to stretch or expand their capacities and experiences, and embraces novelty and uncertainty (possible range of averaged scores = 1–5).

Three distinct attitudes toward death were assessed in the present study: fear of death (7 items assessing content pertaining to death anxiety), neutral acceptance of death (5 items assessing an ambivalent or indifferent view of death as a natural and essential part of life), and approach acceptance of death (10 items regarding beliefs in a pleasant afterlife; possible range of each averaged subscale = 1–7). Approach acceptance was measured in order to test for any incidental group differences in religious or spiritual attitudes.

The four-item scales of eight dispositional coping strategies were implemented. Four strategies represent approach-oriented or adaptive styles of coping: active coping (taking action to directly address the stressor), planning (thinking about how to confront the stressor), positive reinterpretation and growth (focusing on the positive aspects of the stressful situation and viewing it as an opportunity for growth), and suppression of competing activities (decreasing engagement in activities unrelated to dealing with the stressor). Four strategies represent avoidant or otherwise maladaptive styles of coping: denial (ignoring the existence of the stressor), behavioral disengagement (withdrawing efforts to solve the problem or achieve one's goals), substance use (using drugs or alcohol to disengage from the stressor), and focus on and venting of emotions (increased attention to and expression of one's emotional distress). Given our interests were in overall approach-oriented and avoidant styles of coping rather than specific coping strategies, we first employed a factor analysis to empirically confirm our conceptual grouping of these strategies within the present sample. The expected two-factor solution to coping strategy scores was confirmed[3] before aggregate variables were computed by averaging across the relevant scales (possible range = 1–4).

The current study employed a posttest only, nonequivalent group quasi-experimental design ([27]). Hypothesis 1 was tested using independent samples t-tests to compare group means on autonomous motivation, and Hypothesis 2 was tested with separate hierarchical linear regressions for each facilitator variable (entering group and the mean-centered facilitator variable in the first step, followed by the interaction term in the second step). An additional hierarchical regression model was run to test for any unique interactive effects when all facilitator variables were entered simultaneously. There was no evidence of non-normality on any scale scores in the total sample or in either group (all skewness <2; kurtosis <7), although equal variances were not always assumed for the t-tests (see Table 1). All regression models were confirmed to have no violations of multicollinearity (VIF <4), residual normality or homoscedasticity. Due to the very small amount of missing data, such cases were excluded listwise.

Graph

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics, Cronbach's Alphas, and t-Tests for Differences Between Groups.

• 4 aLevene's test for inequality of variance between groups was significant; thus, equal variances were not assumed.

1 Note.*p <.05, **p <.01.

With the available sample size, sensitivity analyses revealed 80% power (α =.05) to detect small–moderate differences between groups using independent samples t-tests (d =.37) for Hypothesis 1, and small interaction effect sizes (Δr2 =.03) using multiple regression for Hypothesis 2. This level of power for the hypothesized interaction effects was considered sufficient based upon the size of a similar interaction effect (Δr2 =.04) reported by [45].

In support of the two groups being matched on demographic variables, chi-square tests revealed no significant differences in the proportions of demographic characteristics between groups (all ps >.151; see Appendix 1). Descriptive statistics, reliability estimates and independent sample t-tests for differences between groups are summarized in Table 1. All variables were measured with an acceptable degree of reliability, although the scale reliability for neutral death acceptance was marginal. No significant group differences were found for approach acceptance to death, suggesting that the groups were not different on religious or spiritual attitudes. Zero-order correlations for all variables are depicted in Table 2. Autonomous motivation demonstrated low-moderate relationships with all facilitator variables in the expected directions (see Appendix 1 for these correlations split by group).

Graph

Table 2. Correlations Amongst All Measures within the Total Sample.

• 5 aGroup was dummy coded (funeral/cemetery workers = 0 and control = 1).
• 2 Note.*p <.05, **p <.01.

Autonomous motivation was significantly higher for funeral/cemetery workers versus the control group, supporting Hypothesis 1 (see Table 1). The effect size was small–moderate. Exploring group differences in the facilitator variables revealed that funeral/cemetery workers were higher in flexibility, curiosity, neutral death acceptance, and approach-oriented coping, but lower in death anxiety and avoidant coping (see Table 1). These effect sizes were large, with the exception of small–moderate effect sizes for approach-oriented and avoidant coping.

Separate moderated regressions were conducted to assess whether each of the facilitator variables predicted more marked differences in autonomous motivation between groups (i.e., whether they appeared to facilitate authentic growth in the presence of mortality cues; see Table 3). Interaction terms were all in the hypothesized direction, though only reached significance for flexibility and death anxiety (each with a small effect size). This provided partial support for Hypothesis 2. Tests of simple slopes were conducted for flexibility and death anxiety (at ± 1SD from the mean), to clarify the nature of these interactions. As expected, group membership predicted higher autonomous motivation when flexibility was high; β = −.24, t(224) = −2.58, p =.011; but not when flexibility was low; β =.07, t(224) = 0.67, p =.505 (see Figure 1). In the opposite direction, group membership predicted higher autonomous motivation when death anxiety was low; β = −.27, t(223) = −2.86, p =.005; but not when death anxiety was high; β =.02, t(223) =.20, p =.844 (see Figure 2). To assess the unique interactive effects of each facilitator, a regression was run with all facilitators entered in the first step, followed by all interaction terms in the second step (see Appendix 1). No interaction effect emerged as significant in this model.

Graph

Table 3. Standardized Beta-Weights from Hierarchical Linear Regressions Testing the Interactive Effects of Group and Each Facilitator Variable on Autonomous Motivation.

• 6 aGroup was dummy coded (funeral/cemetery workers = 0 and control = 1); thus, betas for the facilitators represent the slope for funeral/cemetery workers. All facilitator variables have been mean-centered.
• 3 Note.*p <.05, **p <.01.

Graph: Figure 1. Interactive effect of group and psychological flexibility on autonomous motivation.

Graph: Figure 2. Interactive effect of group and death anxiety on autonomous motivation.

The present study hypothesized that a group of workers chronically exposed to mortality cues would exhibit greater autonomous motivation than a matched control sample; and that differences in certain personality traits, attitudes and coping styles would help describe those more inclined toward autonomous motivation under these conditions. The results clearly supported our first hypothesis, although there was only partial support for the second hypothesis. While the moderating effects of the facilitators were all in the hypothesized directions, only flexibility and (low) death anxiety significantly predicted a stronger relationship between death-related work and higher autonomous motivation.

The differences in autonomous motivation observed between groups align with our wider theoretical rationale and past research, suggesting that consciously reflecting on mortality instigates specific information processing (regarding the implications of death for one's life), which leads to growth-oriented outcomes reflecting more authentic functioning. These findings contribute to an emerging body of research demonstrating that conscious and vivid exposure to death is related to more authentic outcomes ([30]); and extends experimental findings ([1]) by demonstrating this relationship within the context of naturally occurring mortality cues. By specifically demonstrating associations with greater overall autonomous motivation (rather than extrinsic value shifts alone or more general positive outcomes), the present study corroborates the work of existential theorists (e.g., [23]; [44]) regarding the role of death awareness in authentic self-development, helping to clarify the nature of death-related growth and drawing clear links to the way it is expressed in daily life. While the size of the overall difference in autonomous motivation between groups was small to moderate, the moderation analyses (discussed below) suggest that certain factors are associated with greater differences between groups.

Those in death-related occupations were also significantly different on all six constructs theorized to facilitate more authentic responses to death reflection. Higher psychological flexibility, curiosity, neutral death acceptance and approach-oriented coping, in addition to lower death anxiety and avoidant coping, are all likely to assist funeral and cemetery workers to effectively deal with the chronic exposure to mortality cues and emotional demands unique to their jobs. These findings contribute to our understanding of this understudied population, who appear to possess relatively high capacities for openly confronting and processing threatening or stressful stimuli. These findings extend past work focusing on the predictors of death anxiety within funeral/cemetery workers (e.g., [12]), by considering the predictors of more positive forms of psychological functioning within this population.

High flexibility and low death anxiety in particular were found to be stronger predictors of autonomous motivation for funeral/cemetery workers compared to the control sample, suggesting that these variables potentially facilitate greater shifts toward autonomous motivation in response to chronic mortality cues. High flexibility entails a mindful orientation, enabling individuals to non-judgmentally and non-defensively experience negative internal states. This reduces the likelihood that one will behave reactively to threatening experiences, and increases the likelihood that they will consult their values to guide their behavior under such conditions ([3]). Given that flexibility has also been found to increase authentic responses to experimentally induced death awareness ([1]), this construct holds considerable promise for understanding which individuals are more likely to process death awareness in growth-oriented ways, and the mechanisms through which growth-oriented responses emerge.

Similar to flexibility, low trait death anxiety characterizes individuals who are generally less emotionally reactive to death ([11]). The present findings suggest that low death anxiety may also promote growth-oriented processing of death. Death anxiety has been consistently tied to defensive, prevention-focused or self-protective mechanisms which reduce approach-oriented engagement in life and positive self-development (e.g., [5]; [33]; [43]). Furthermore, death anxiety has been found to have a negative association with the meaningfulness component of one's sense of coherence, indicating that when death anxiety is low, there is more appreciation of life's challenges and potential mobilization of resources to cope with stress and engage in meaning-making ([38]). In resolving death anxiety, an individual may therefore become free to more actively contemplate the meaning of their mortality and thereby engage in personal development toward more authentic functioning; however, future research is needed to further investigate both the causal nature of this relationship and the mechanisms underlying it.

The current research increases knowledge regarding which individuals are likely to express more optimal psychological functioning under existentially threatening conditions, which is likely to be of value to both individuals and organizations given the relationships between autonomous motivation and both personal well-being and positive job-related outcomes ([8]).

The moderating effects of death anxiety and flexibility did not emerge as significant over and above the effect of all other predictors in the simultaneous regression model, suggesting that (1) the overlap between variables is likely to account for much of these effects, and (2) this simultaneous regression may have been underpowered to detect unique effects. The lack of significant moderating effects for curiosity, neutral death acceptance or coping styles is difficult to explain; however, these findings do not mean these constructs are irrelevant to authentic self-development in general, only that the current study did find not them to facilitate autonomous motivation more strongly for those exposed to mortality. It could be that these constructs simply have equivalent roles within the expression of autonomous motivation regardless of exposure to mortality, or that these interactive effects were too small to detect with the available sample size. Despite the current sample size being adequately powered to detect small interaction effects of the magnitude previously reported in the literature ([45]), observed effect sizes were consistently smaller than those we had 80% power to detect. These data may therefore be used to inform future research of the size of effect that could be expected when investigating authentic growth using similar methodologies. It seems that such studies may benefit from using larger sample sizes where possible. Alternatively, studies could employ more person-centered analytic techniques to investigate similar questions, such as clustering individuals based on their degree of death awareness and other individual differences, before comparing them on authentic goal-striving.

Given the cross-sectional, quasi-experimental nature of the present study, these findings alone cannot demonstrate that chronic exposure to mortality cues (or the experience of death reflection under these conditions) caused increases in autonomous motivation. Although the matching of the control sample plausibly rules out the influence of common demographic factors, there is always a possible impact of unintended group differences that are not measured or controlled for in such an experiment. It should be acknowledged that the control group may have had different motivations for participating in the experiment (receiving payment) to the employees (self-selected); however, this should not necessarily impact autonomous motivation in general, or for specific personal projects in their life (i.e., the dependent variable). Furthermore, groups were compared based upon differences in chronic exposure to mortality cues within the workplace, although the presence or frequency of mortality cues outside of the workplace was not assessed. While such cues are likely to vary naturally within each group, their impact on the present findings cannot be known.

It is important to recognize that while our theoretical reasoning proposes autonomous motivation as an outcome of reflecting on death, the present research cannot rule out the possibility that it may have also partly determined self-selection into (and remaining in) death-related occupations. More autonomously motivated individuals pursue personally meaningful and fulfilling goals that are well-aligned with their values ([28]). Therefore, such individuals may be drawn toward funeral and cemetery work to the extent that it can provide an opportunity for meaningful engagement (e.g., through helping others and contributing to the community; [9]). However, the current study focused on present motivations in general, rather than the various potential motivations for entering this line of work (also including financial security and continuing a family legacy; [9]) or the degree to which these were autonomous. To better tease apart the influence of these factors and the direction of causality, longitudinal research designs which assess personal characteristics and motivations at the intake of new employees and then follow up periodically thereafter would be of considerable value. This line of research could additionally elucidate variations in growth trajectories, and causal flow-on effects to other important well-being indices (e.g., meaning in life). Qualitative research could also offer an in-depth exploration of how different motivations for entering funeral/cemetery work influence responses to mortality exposure. Nonetheless, the current findings align with research demonstrating causal effects of death reflection on autonomous motivation ([1]), in addition to research showing that repeated exposure desensitizes people to death and has been proposed as a key step to improving psychological well-being (e.g., [24]).

When considering the contexts in which our findings apply, it should be noted that the current findings are not expected to generalize to acute exposure to mortality cues (within or outside of the workplace), due to the differential forms of death awareness and information processing it is theorized to instigate ([11]). While the present results may generalize to other chronic exposures to mortality cues, further research conducted on diverse samples (e.g., within professionals or caregivers involved in end-of-life care) may help to enrich our understanding of these phenomena, and perhaps clarify whether unique experiential features of death reflection alter outcomes.

The cultural context of the present study also sets limits on the generalizability of the findings, as similar group comparisons may not produce the same results, for instance, in cultures where there is greater general salience of mortality or where the general population holds more open and embracing attitudes toward death. At a broader level, psychological constructs like posttraumatic growth have been largely established within Western individualistic cultural contexts (akin to that of the present study). When generalizing to diverse sociocultural contexts, consideration needs to be given to variation in the underlying worldviews being challenged by mortality, culturally situated expression of growth, and the most appropriate means of measuring these outcomes (e.g., more collectivist cultures may place greater emphasis on maintaining strong community bonds post-trauma rather than a consistent sense of self; [35]). The complexity of these issues could indeed form the focus of extensive further investigation.

The present research also suggests avenues for investigating potential means of promoting authentic self-development for individuals dealing with mortality in their daily life. The enhancement of psychological flexibility is the central aim of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; [13]); and ACT-based interventions have successfully been employed to improve distress associated with living with cancer ([14]), in addition to improving work-related outcomes in organizational settings ([25]). Training programs centered on psychological flexibility may therefore have utility in enhancing adaptive responses to chronic mortality cues (including more authentic functioning) within death-related organizations.

Future research may also benefit from examining whether interventions specifically targeting death anxiety may also produce changes in authentic goal-striving. One recent meta-analysis concluded that fears of death can be substantially reduced using cognitive behavior therapy ([24]), which involves gradually exposing individuals to their fears and relevant death-related stimuli or situations. The exposure to mortality cues within funeral and cemetery work may similarly decrease death anxiety over time. Given this, it may prove useful to examine whether CBT interventions directly addressing death anxiety can facilitate more growth-oriented processing which leads to greater authentic functioning (alongside a reduction in fear). In a similar vein, research suggests that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy has the potential to produce therapeutic effects by reducing death anxiety ([26]), in addition to increasing psychological flexibility ([41]). Future research may therefore consider assessing authentic goal-striving as a target of such interventions, and perhaps explore whether the combined improvement of both death anxiety and flexibility is particularly valuable for clients.

In linking research on the positive outcomes of death reflection to autonomous motivation, the present study builds on efforts to integrate core aspects of existential theory into the psychological study of death awareness ([21]; [30]). It appears that consistent, conscious awareness of mortality is related to greater autonomous motivation and therefore, more optimal, authentic engagement in the pursuit of life goals—particularly for individuals who are more flexible and less anxious of death. This study therefore has implications for a wide range of settings where individuals are grappling with issues of mortality, both in the workplace or in one's personal life. It is hoped that this facilitates future research on how to mobilize personal resources that enable people to live as best as possible in the face of fundamental existential issues.

Andrew F. A. Arena https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7105-2911

Table A1 outlines the frequency distributions for all demographic variables split by group, alongside the associated chi-square tests for differences between groups. The groups were not significantly different on any of the demographic variables.

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Table A1. Chi-Square Tests for Differences between Groups on Demographic Variables.

Table A2 presents the zero-order correlations between the six facilitators and autonomous motivation split by group. Correlations were stronger for the funeral/cemetery workers than the control group for all cases and were in the hypothesized directions. Higher correlations for flexibility, curiosity, approach-oriented coping, and neutral acceptance of death, but lower correlations for death anxiety and avoidant coping were obtained for the funeral/cemetery workers as compared to the control group. A more consistent pattern of significant correlations was found among funeral/cemetery workers, whereas in the control group, only avoidant coping was significantly associated with autonomous motivation.

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Table A2. Zero-Order Correlation Coefficients between Autonomous Motivation and Facilitators Split by Group.

When entered simultaneously, no interaction effect emerged as statistically significant over and above the effects of all other variables in the model (Table A3).

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Table A3. Hierarchical Linear Regression Testing the Simultaneous Interactive Effects of Group and All Facilitator Variables on Autonomous Motivation.