Different terror management strategies in practising Christians raised with religious or secular world views and implications for counselling

John Meteyard^a* & Eric Marx^b

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Abstract

This study examined the effect of mortality salience on cultural world views defence strategies employed by participants who were raised within the Christian faith compared with those who converted to Christianity as adults. As predicted, mortality salience did not lead to increased defence of participants’ secular Australian cultural world views. However, when the sample was divided into ‘raised religious’ and ‘raised secular’ groups, believers who were not raised in the Christian faith and converted to Christianity as adults were more likely to use culturally rather than religiously based world views defence strategies when exposed to reminders of death than were the ‘raised religious’ group. Practical implications for counsellors working with clients facing increased awareness of death and mortality are discussed.