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Better than expected? Predictors of coping with expectation violations in the communication about death and dying
Background: End-of-life (EOL) communication is often avoided, especially among young adults. Negative expectations concerning EOL conversations with relatives or significant others are one major reason. Objective: To investigate how best to violate negative expectations concerning EOL conversati...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Philipps-Universität Marburg
2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | PDF Full Text |
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| Summary: | Background: End-of-life (EOL) communication is often avoided, especially
among young adults. Negative expectations concerning EOL conversations with
relatives or significant others are one major reason.
Objective: To investigate how best to violate negative expectations concerning
EOL conversations by identifying predictors of coping with expectation violations
in this context.
Methods: Vignettes describing expectation violations in the context of EOL
communication were presented to a sample of 261 university students. In a first
experiment, the credibility of the expectation-disconfirming information was
manipulated. In a second experiment, the valence of the disconfirming evidence
was manipulated. As outcome measures, the subjective likelihood of two different
responses to the expectation violation was assessed: (1) ignoring the disconfirming
evidence (immunization) and (2) changing expectations (accommodation).
Results: Overall, participants experiencing a worse-than-expected event showed
more immunization [F(1, 257) = 12.15, p < 0.001, ηp = 0.05], while participants
experiencing a better-than-expected event showed more accommodation
[F(1, 257) = 30.98, p < 0.001, ηp = 0.11]. Participants with higher fear of death [F(1,
257) = 12.24, p < 0.001, ηp = 0.05] as well as higher death avoidance tendencies
[F(1, 257) = 17.16, p < 0.001, ηp = 0.06] showed less accommodation in response to
a better-than-expected event.
Conclusion: In general, young adults appear to update their expectations
quickly in response to unexpectedly positive experiences in the context of EOL
communication. However, individuals with higher fear of death and higher
death avoidance tendencies appear to be at higher risk of maintaining negative
expectations despite disconfirming evidence. |
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| Item Description: | Gefördert durch den Open-Access-Publikationsfonds der UB Marburg. |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1256202 |