Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American psychologist, 41(9), 954-969.

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 …

Ramsey, S., et al. (2013). Washington State cancer patients found to be at greater risk for bankruptcy than people without a cancer diagnosis.

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 …

Himmelstein, D. U., Thorne, D., Warren, E., & Woolhandler, S. (2009). Medical bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: results of a national study. The American journal of medicine, 122(8), 741-746.

Background Our 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. Methods We surveyed a random national sample of 2314 bankruptcy filers in 2007, abstracted their court records, and …

Warner, E. L., Kirchhoff, A. C., Nam, G. E., & Fluchel, M. (2014). Financial burden of pediatric cancer for patients and their families. Journal of oncology practice, 11(1), 12-18.

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) …

Grant, A. M., & Wade-Benzoni, K. A. (2009). The hot and cool of death awareness at work: Mortality cues, aging, and self-protective and prosocial motivations

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, …

Cozzolino, P. J., Staples, A. D., Meyers, L. S., & Samboceti, J. (2004). Greed, death, and values: From terror management to transcendence management theory.

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 …

McMillen, J. C., Smith, E. M., & Fisher, R. H. (1997). Perceived benefit and mental health after three types of disaster. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 65(5), 733-739.

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. …

Wrzesniewski, A. (2002). “It’s Not Just a Job” Shifting Meanings of Work in the Wake of 9/11. Journal of management inquiry, 11(3), 230-234.

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 …

Sonnentag, S., & Grant, A. M. (2012). Doing good at work feels good at home, but not right away: When and why perceived prosocial impact predicts positive affect.

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 …

Humphrey, S. E., et al. (2007). Integrating motivational, social, and contextual work design features: a meta-analytic summary and theoretical extension of the work design literature.

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, …