What does it mean to feel that a part of us will live on after we are gone? A new study of nearly 3,000 adults found that people who believed they would be remembered by others tended to report better mental health, a stronger sense of meaning and lower levels of problematic substance use and addictive behaviors. The findings point to a possible link between our sense of lasting significance and the way we cope with stress, uncertainty and mortality.

Most people, at some point, wonder what will remain of them after they are gone. Will their family remember them? Will something they created, taught or contributed continue to matter? A new study suggests that this deeply human desire may be connected to mental health. Researchers found that people who more strongly believed they would be remembered after death also tended to report better mental health and lower levels of problematic substance use and addictive behaviors.

The study, led by Dr. Uri Lifshin and Prof. Mario Mikulincer from the Israel Center for Addiction and Mental Health and the Department of Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, examined what psychologists call “symbolic immortality,” the sense that some part of us will continue through our relationships, accomplishments, identity or legacy.

Published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, the research included 2,912 Israeli adults. Those with a stronger sense of symbolic immortality tended to report greater self-esteem, stronger social support, more meaning in life and more secure relationships. They also reported fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress, fewer sleep problems and fewer difficulties regulating their emotions.

The pattern extended to addictive behaviors. A stronger belief that one would be remembered was associated with lower levels of problematic alcohol, cannabis and prescription drug use, as well as lower levels of problematic gambling, gaming, pornography use, compulsive sexual behavior, social media use and internet use. While these correlations were generally modest to small, they were consistent across a broad range of mental health and addiction-related outcomes.

“The feeling that our lives matter and will continue to matter to other people may be an important part of how we cope with uncertainty and the knowledge of our own mortality,” said the researchers. “Our findings suggest that feeling connected to others, having meaning in life and believing that something of us will remain may go hand in hand with better mental health and fewer problematic addictive behaviors.”

At its core, the idea is simple: people may fare better when they feel that their lives have meaning beyond the present moment.

Psychologists have long argued that people cope with the awareness of mortality by building a sense of meaning, belonging and continuity. Relationships, community, personal achievements and identity can all contribute to the feeling that one’s life extends beyond the individual.

The study was conducted during an especially difficult period. Participants completed the survey in February 2025, during the Swords of Iron war, and the sample was designed to broadly reflect the adult Jewish population in Israel by gender, age, religiosity and area of residence.

Participants were asked whether they believed other people would remember them after they died, for example through their accomplishments or legacy. They also completed measures of mental health, substance use, behavioral addictions, social support, self-esteem and meaning in life.

Importantly, the researchers distinguished symbolic immortality from belief in an afterlife. While the two were related, afterlife belief was closely tied to religiosity and belief in God and was not consistently associated with better mental health. Symbolic immortality, by contrast, remained associated with mental health and addiction measures even after accounting for belief in an afterlife and several demographic factors.

The researchers caution that the study does not show that believing one will be remembered causes better mental health. The relationship could also work in the opposite direction, with poor mental health making it harder to feel connected, meaningful or confident about one’s legacy. The study was also conducted only in Israel and during wartime, so further research is needed in other populations and settings. Further experimental and longitudinal research will also be needed to determine whether symbolic immortality itself plays a causal role in these mental health and addiction-related outcomes.

Still, the findings suggest that mental health and addiction-related problems may be tied not only to biological, cognitive or personality processes, but also to the extent to which people feel they have established a sense of purpose, socio-cultural connection and significance that can endure beyond their own death. In this sense, symbolic immortality may represent not only self-transcendence, but a form of death transcendence — a way of psychologically managing the knowledge of mortality by feeling that some part of oneself will continue through others, one’s identity or one’s legacy.