Terror management theory posits that sex is a ubiquitous human problem because the creaturely aspects of sex make apparent our animal nature, which reminds us of our vulnerability and mortality. People minimize this threat by investing in the symbolic meaning offered by the cultural worldview. Because people high in neuroticism have difficulty finding or sustaining meaning, sex is a particular problem for them. In Study 1, mortality salience caused high-neuroticism participants to find the physical aspects of sex less appealing. Study 2 revealed that for such individuals thoughts of physical sex increase the accessibility of death-related thoughts. This finding was replicated in Study 3, which also showed that providing meaning by associating sex with love reduces the accessibility of death-related thoughts in response to thoughts of physical sex. These findings provide insight into why people high in neuroticism have conflicting thoughts about sexuality and why sexuality is so often regulated and romanticized.

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/77/6/1173.pdf

Death, sex, love, and neuroticism: why is sex such a problem?

We offer a theoretical perspective to provide insight into why people are ambivalent about sex and why cultures regulate sex and attach symbolic meaning to it. Building on terror management theory, we propose that sex is problematic for humankind in part because it reminds us of our creaturely mortal nature. Two experiments investigated the effects of reminding people of the similarity between humans and other animals on their reactions to the physical aspects of sex. In Study 1, priming human‐animal similarities led to increased accessibility of death‐related thoughts after thinking about the physical but not romantic aspects of sex. In Study 2, when participants were reminded of similarities between humans and other animals, mortality salience resulted in decreased attraction to the physical but not romantic aspects of sex. In each study, priming thoughts about how humans are distinct from animals eliminated the association between sex and death.

Understanding human ambivalence about sex: The effects of stripping sex of meaning

A comparison of death anxiety and quality of life of patients with advanced cancer or AIDS and their family caregivers.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED278908.pdf

Predictors of burnout in professional and paraprofessional nurses working in hospitals and nursing homes

Why do sexually appealing women often attract derogation and aggression? According to terror management theory, women's sexual allure threatens to increase men's awareness of their corporeality and thus mortality. Accordingly, in Study 1 a subliminal mortality prime decreased men's but not women's attractiveness ratings of alluring women. In Study' 2, mortality salience (MS) led men to downplay their sexual intent toward a sexy woman. In Study 3, MS decreased men's interest in a seductive but not a wholesome woman. In Study 4, MS decreased men's but not women's attraction to a sexy opposite-sex target. In Study 5, MS and a corporeal lust prime increased men's tolerance of aggression toward women. Discussion focuses on mortality concerns and male sexual ambivalence.

/pdf/the-siren-s-call-terror-management-and-the-threat-of-men-s-5bw0ufxs0v.pdf

The siren's call: terror management and the threat of men's sexual attraction to women.

The present research was an attempt to examine the interrelationships among exposure to death and dying, fear of death, and anxiety. Questionnaire data were collected from 375 undergraduates at a midwestern university. Overall measures of exposure to death and dying were significantly correlated with several fears of death and were found unrelated to both state and trait anxiety. Both measures of anxiety were found to be positively related to several types of fear of death which held when controlling for the potential effects of exposure to death and dying. Measures of emotional closeness to the deceased, the relationship to the deceased, and the time elapsed since exposure to death were also examined and found related to various types of fear of death and anxiety. Several tentative explanations were suggested for the obtained relationships.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2190/TY4E-KV6Q-WE9D-7DAT

On the Interrelationships among Exposure to Death and Dying, Fear of Death, and Anxiety:

Studies examining fear of death and anxiety have consistently shown these constructs to be positively related. Although several measures of anxiety have been examined, fear of death has always been treated unidimensionally. The present research was an attempt to examine eight types of fear of death in relation to two types of anxiety. Questionnaire data were collected from 375 male and female undergraduates at a Mid-western university. Anxiety was measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and fear of death by a factor analytic multidimensional scale. Significant correlations were found between seven of the eight fear of death dimensions and both measures of anxiety. Regression analysis showed fear of premature death and fear of the dead to be the most important death-related fears associated with anxiety.

Janice A. Hoelter

Papers

On the Interrelationships among Exposure to Death and Dying, Fear of Death, and Anxiety:

The relationship between fear and death and anxiety.