Personality characteristics, body image and social attitudes of organ transplant donors versus nondonors.

Thirty adults willing their body at death to medical science were compared on a number of personality variables with 30 nondonors, both groups equated for age, education, and socioeconomic status. Donors are internally directed, masters of their fate; nondonors rely on chance or luck to explain outcome. A more definite body image characterizes donors while nondonors are more concerned about body integrity. Donors accept their mortality while nondonors worry more about death. At the fantasy level donors display more hostility, depression, and guilt, and the prospective act of donation may represent an attempt at atonement. Donation represents a convenient and socially acceptable outlet for expression of humanitarian needs by donors.