Introduces the concept of possible selves (PSs) to complement current conceptions of self-knowledge. PSs represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming, and thus provide a conceptual link beteen cognition and motivation. PSs are the cognitive components of hopes, fears, goals, and threats; they give the specific self-relevant form, meaning, organization, and...

Much has been written about the relationship between high medical expenses and the likelihood of filing for bankruptcy, but the relationship between receiving a cancer diagnosis and filing for bankruptcy is less well understood. We estimated the incidence and relative risk of bankruptcy for people age twenty-one or older diagnosed with cancer compared to people the same age without cancer by conducting a retrospective cohort...

BackgroundOur 2001 study in 5 states found that medical problems contributed to at least 46.2% of all bankruptcies. Since then, health costs and the numbers of un- and underinsured have increased, and bankruptcy laws have tightened.MethodsWe surveyed a random national sample of 2314 bankruptcy filers in 2007, abstracted their court records, and interviewed 1032 of them. We designated bankruptcies as “medical” based on debtors' stated...

Efforts to reduce unexpected hospitalizations and employment disruptions by providing more comprehensive supportive care for pediatric patients with cancer could help ease families' financial burden. Purpose:Cancer treatment may cause financial stress for pediatric oncology patients and their families. We evaluated pediatric cancer caregivers' perceived financial burden related to socioeconomic factors (eg, parental employment) and health care use factors (eg, unexpected hospitalizations). Methods:A single-site, cross-sectional survey of primary...

Although death awareness is pervasive in organizations and can have powerful effects on employees' experiences and behaviors, scholars have paid little attention to it. We develop a theoretical model of the nature, antecedents, and consequences of death awareness at work. We differentiate death anxiety and reflection as distinct states that strengthen self-protective versus prosocial motivations, examine how mortality cues and aging processes trigger these states,...

Research supporting terror management theory has shown that participants facing their death (via mortality salience) exhibit more greed than do control participants. The present research attempts to distinguish mortality salience from other forms of mortality awareness. Specifically, the authors look to reports of near-death experiences and posttraumatic growth which reveal that many people who nearly die come to view seeking wealth and possessions as empty...

The study of growth and perceived benefit after traumatic events has been hailed as one of the most promising directions for stress research. This research, however, has been limited by several methodological limitations. These limitations are addressed in this prospective study, which examines perceived benefit and mental health adjustment after 3 different types of disaster. Survivors of a tornado in Madison, Florida, had the highest...

This article explores the impact of the World Trade Center disaster on the meanings that people attach to their work. In the wake of the attacks, several examples of people changing occupations appeared in the media. An analysis of people’s need for increased meaning in their work, and their exodus into work that they view as a calling, is given. It appears that for many,...

When and why does the experience of helping others at work spill over into positive affect at home? This paper presents a within‐person examination of the association between perceived prosocial impact at work and positive affect at home, as well as the psychological mechanisms that mediate this relationship. Sixty‐eight firefighters and rescue workers completed electronic diaries twice a day over the course of 1 working...

The authors developed and meta-analytically examined hypotheses designed to test and extend work design theory by integrating motivational, social, and work context characteristics. Results from a summary of 259 studies and 219,625 participants showed that 14 work characteristics explained, on average, 43% of the variance in the 19 worker attitudes and behaviors examined. For example, motivational characteristics explained 25% of the variance in subjective performance,...