Finding Meaning in Nothingness: How Meaning Management Theory Relates to Death Acceptance in Nonreligious Individuals

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dc.contributorCribbet, Matthew
dc.contributorCrowther, Martha R
dc.contributorParmelee, Patricia A
dc.contributorTullett, Alexa
dc.contributor.advisorAllen, Rebecca S.
dc.contributor.authorDragan, Deanna Michelle
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa
dc.date.accessioned2022-02-04T20:16:38Z
dc.date.available2022-02-04T20:16:38Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.descriptionElectronic Thesis or Dissertationen_US
dc.description.abstractThere is a growing trend to focus on the positive rather than on the negative, anxiety-provoking outcomes associated with coping with death, and emerging evidence suggests meaning-related processes may be a primary factor involved in cultivating these positive outcomes. A particular gap in research is the need to explore how nonreligious individuals cope with death awareness, and how theoretical perspectives from this recent positive trend fit or fail to fit the expressed experience of these individuals. Specifically, the present study proposed to gather empirical evidence for the Meaning Management Theory (MMT; Wong, 2007), focusing on how this theoretical model accounted or failed to account for nonreligious participants’ experiences with death. A community-dwelling sample with representation from religiously affiliated and religiously unaffiliated was recruited via a crowd-sourcing platform to complete a battery of measures in this study. Model fit indices were analyzed, and researchers aimed to identify group differences on meaning-related processes in relation to death attitudes in these two groups. The results of this study offer some support for the utility of the Meaning Management Theory, particularly within a sample of nonreligious respondents. Though findings are largely inconclusive for examining group differences, the findings contribute to the literature on how nonreligious individuals cope with death. Lastly, these results could be used to inform future empirical investigations of the Meaning Management Theory and clinical practice by reflecting the importance of understanding the growth-oriented perspective as well as the negative outcomes associated with coping with death.en_US
dc.format.mediumelectronic
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.otherhttp://purl.lib.ua.edu/181725
dc.identifier.otheru0015_0000001_0004015
dc.identifier.otherDragan_alatus_0004D_14664
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/8290
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Alabama Libraries
dc.relation.hasversionborn digital
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Electronic Theses and Dissertations
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Libraries Digital Collections
dc.rightsAll rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.en_US
dc.subjectAtheist
dc.subjectdeath acceptance
dc.subjectMeaning Management Theory
dc.subjectnonreligious
dc.titleFinding Meaning in Nothingness: How Meaning Management Theory Relates to Death Acceptance in Nonreligious Individualsen_US
dc.typethesis
dc.typetext
etdms.degree.departmentUniversity of Alabama. Department of Psychology
etdms.degree.disciplineClinical psychology
etdms.degree.grantorThe University of Alabama
etdms.degree.leveldoctoral
etdms.degree.namePh.D.
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