According to TMT, culture functions as a buffer against the awareness of death. To assess the anxiety-buffering function of youth culture, this study manipulated the awareness of death (mortality salience). Study participants were 53 high school students, ranging in age from 16 to 19, who participated in a meeting about studying cultural psychology at the University of Nijmegen (Netherlands). Two sets of questionnaires were administered, with participants instructed to answer the questionnaires in the order they were presented. The first set of questionnaires consisted of a cover story and four "personality" questionnaires. The second set of questionnaires consisted of a cover story and two essays on youth culture, each followed by two measures on which participants could express their evaluation of the essays. After participants returned the questionnaires, TMT and the true purpose of the experiment were explained. Study findings replicate the mortality salience effect found in previous studies. When participants were reminded of death, they seemed to seek protection by strengthening their allegiance to socially constructed symbolic systems from which they can derive positive self-esteem and that enable them to alleviate their concerns about mortality. These findings suggest that youth culture is one of these protective symbolic systems. This paper also discusses the paradoxical combination of youthfulness and anxiety about death. 2 tables, 1 note, and 43 references