Three studies tested whether mortality salience would lead men to be more sexually risky than women. In Study 1, men reported greater intentions to engage in risky sexual behaviors than did women after a mortality prime, but not after a control prime. In Study 2, men desired more future sexual partners and had a lower need for intimacy than did women, but again, only when mortality was salient. Furthermore, need for romantic intimacy mediated the relationship between mortality salience, gender, and desired number of future partners. Using a behavioral rather than a self-reported dependent measure, Study 3 showed that men primed with mortality were less likely than women to select a package of condoms (versus a pen) as a free gift after the experiment. Implications for gender differences in responses to mortality salience, as well as for how to design effective safe-sex interventions, are discussed.
Advocates for Youth (2008, 25 January). HIV/STI prevention and treatment among youth in the U.S. Retrieved April 1, 2008 from http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/hivsti.htm .
2.
Albarracin, D., Gillette, J.C., Earl, A.N., Glasman, L.R., Durantini, M.R., & Ho, M.-H. (2005). A test of major assumptions about behavior change: A comprehensive look at the effects of passive and active HIV-prevention interventions since the beginning of the epidemic. Psychological Bulletin , 131, 856-897.
3.
Altman, L.K. (2008, 12 March). Sex infections found in quarter of teenage girls. The New York Times, p. A20.
4.
Arndt, J., Greenberg, J., & Cook, A. (2002). Mortality salience and the spreading activation of worldview-relevant constructs: Exploring the cognitive architecture of terror management. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , 131, 307-324.
5.
Byrnes, J.P., Miller, D.C., & Schafer, W.D. (1999). Gender differences in risk-taking: A meta-analysis . Psychological Bulletin, 125, 367-383.
6.
Cates, W., Jr. (1999). Estimates of the incidence and prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in the United States. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 26, S2-S7.
7.
Cooper, M.L., Shapiro, C.M., & Powers, A.M. (1998). Motivations for sex and risky sexual behavior among adolescents and young adults: A functional perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1528-1558.
8.
Dechesne, M., Pyszczynski, T., Arndt, J., Ransom, S., Sheldon, K.M., van Knippenberg, A., & Janssen, J. (2003). Literal and symbolic immortality: The effect of evidence of literal immortality on self-esteem striving in response to mortality salience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 722-737.
9.
Florian, V., Mikulincer, M., & Hirschberger, G. (2002). The anxiety-buffering function of close relationships: Evidence that relationship commitment acts as a terror management mechanism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 527-542.
10.
Fritsche, I., Jonas, E., Fischer, P., Koranyi, N., Berger, N., & Fleischmann, B. (2007). Mortality salience and the desire for offspring. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , 43, 753-762.
11.
Gebhardt, W., Kuyper, L., & Greunsven, G. (2003). Need for intimacy in relationships and motives for sex as determinants of adolescent condom use. Journal of Adolescent Health, 33, 154-164.
12.
Goldenberg, J.L., Landau, M.J., Pyszczynski, T., Cox, C.R., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., & Duncan, H. (2003). Gender-typical responses to sexual and emotional infidelity as a function of mortality salience induced self-esteem striving . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1585-1595.
13.
Goldenberg, J.L., McCoy, S.K., Pyszczynski, T., Greenberg, J., & Solomon, S. (2000). The body as a source of self-esteem: The effect of mortality salience on identification with one's body, interest in sex, and appearance monitoring. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 118-130.
14.
Goldenberg, J.L., Pyszczynski, T., McCoy, S.K., Greenberg, J., & Solomon, S. (1999). Death, sex, love, and neuroticism: Why is sex such a problem?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 77, 1173-1187.
15.
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Simon, L., & Breus, M. (1994). Role of consciousness and accessibility of death-related thoughts in mortality salience effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 627-637.
16.
Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., & Pyszczynski, T. (1997). Terror management theory of self-esteem and social behavior: Empirical assessments and conceptual refinements . In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 29, pp. 31-69). New York: Academic Press.
17.
Harmon-Jones, E., Simon, L., Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & McGregor, H. (1997). Terror management theory and self-esteem: Evidence that increased self-esteem reduces mortality salience effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 24-36.
18.
Herbst, J., Beeker, C., Mathew, T., McNally, W., Passin, L., Kay, N., et al. (2007). The effectiveness of individual-, group- and community-level HIV behavioral risk-reduction interventions for adult men who have sex with men: A systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 32, 38-67.
19.
Hirschberger, G., Florian, V., & Mikulincer, M. (2003). Strivings for romantic intimacy following partner complaint or partner criticism: A terror management perspective. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships , 20, 675-687.
20.
Hirschberger, G., Florian, V., Mikulincer, M., Goldenberg, J.L., & Pyszczynski, T. (2002). Gender differences in the willingness to engage in risky behavior: A terror management perspective . Death Studies, 26, 117-141.
21.
Mandel, N., & Smeesters, D. (2008). The sweet escape: The effects of mortality salience on consumption quantities for low and high self-esteem consumers. Journal of Consumer Research, 35, 309-323.
22.
Mikulincer, M., Florian, V., & Hirschberger, G. (2003). The existential function of close relationships: Introducing death into the science of love. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 20-40.
23.
Mischel, W. (1966). The social-learning view of sex differences in behavior. In E. E. Maccoby (Ed.), The development of sex differences (pp. 56-81). Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press.
24.
Monahan, J.L., Miller, L.C., & Rothspan, S. (1997). Power and intimacy: On the dynamics of risky sex . Health Communication, 9, 303-321.
25.
Muller, D., Judd, C.M., & Yzerbyt, V.Y. (2005). When moderation is mediated and mediation is moderated . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 852-863.
26.
Mullen, P.D., Ramirez, G., Strouse, D., Hedges, L.V., & Sogolow, E. (2002). Meta-analysis of the effects of behavioral HIV prevention interventions on the sexual risk behavior of sexually experienced adolescents in controlled studies in the United States. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 30, S194-S105.
27.
Noar, S.M. (2007). Behavioral interventions to reduce HIV-related sexual risk behavior: Review and synthesis of meta-analytic evidence. AIDS Behavior, 12, 335-353.
28.
Oliver, M.B., & Hyde, J.S. (1993). Gender differences in sexuality: A meta-analysis . Psychological Bulletin, 114, 29-51.
29.
Poppen, P.J. (1995). Gender and patterns of sexual risk taking in college students. Sex Roles, 32, 545-555.
Pyszczynski, T., Wicklund, R.A., Floresku, S., & Koch, H. (1996). Whistling in the dark: Exaggerated consensus estimates in response to incidental reminders of mortality. Psychological Science, 7, 332-336.
32.
Rosenblatt, A., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., Pyszczynski, T., & Lyon, D. (1989). Evidence for terror management theory I: The effects of mortality salience on reactions to those who violate or uphold cultural values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 681-690.
33.
Routledge, C., Arndt, J., & Goldenberg, J.L. (2004). A time to tan: Proximal and distal effects of mortality salience on sun exposure intentions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1347-1358.
34.
Sanderson, C.A., & Cantor, N. (1995). Social dating goals in late adolescence: Implications for safer sexual activity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 1121-1134.
35.
Taubman Ben-Ari, O. (2004). Intimacy and risky sexual behavior: What does it have to do with death?Death Studies, 28, 865-887.
36.
Taubman Ben-Ari, O., & Findler, L. (2003). Reckless driving and gender: An examination of a terror management theory explanation. Death Studies, 27, 603-618.
37.
Taubman Ben-Ari, O., Florian, V., & Mikulincer, M. (1999). The impact of mortality salience on reckless driving: A test of terror management mechanisms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 35-45.
38.
Watson, D., Clark, L.A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of Positive and Negative Affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1070.
39.
Weinstock, H., Berman, S., & Cates, W., Jr. (2004). Sexually transmitted diseases among American youth: Incidence and prevalence estimates, 2000. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 36, 6-10.
40.
Wilson, M., & Daly, M. (1985). Competitiveness, risk-taking, and violence: The young male syndrome. Ethology & Sociobiology, 6, 59-73.
41.
Wisman, A., & Goldenberg, J.L. (2005). From the grave to the cradle: Evidence that mortality salience engenders a desire for offspring . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 46-61.
42.
Zuckerman, M., Eysenck, S., & Eysenck, H.J. (1978). Sensation seeking in England and America: Cross-cultural, age, and sex comparisons. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 139-149.
