MEANING IN LIFE IN ELDERLY

Abstract

Aim: Starting from the research of the Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, the meaning in life proved its importance, being studied in the context of different research traditions, existential psychology, positive psychology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology. This is a pilot study targeting a group of twenty elderly Romanians who live in a Residential Center in Bucharest. Methods: The study assumes that we’ll have statistically significant correlations between independent variables (presence of meaning, search for meaning) and dependent ones (depression, anxiety, stress, life satisfaction). Method: The research uses correlation analysis for the variables: meaning presence and meaning search from M. Steger's MLQ questionnaire, defined as independent variables in the study and dependent variables: depression, anxiety, stress (DASS-21 questionnaire), and life satisfaction (Satisfaction Scale with Life, SWLS). Results: The research results highlight good internal consistency (Cronbach's coefficient α> 0.70) for the two subscales of the M.L.Q. questionnaire. The statistically significant inverse link between the level of stress and the presence of meaning in life is confirmed, the statistically significant inverse link between the total score of depression and the presence of meaning in life is confirmed; the variable life satisfaction is the only dependent variable for which statistically significant links are confirmed with both independent variables simultaneously (presence of meaning in life and search for meaning of life); Pearson correlation coefficients are statistically significant, Sig values, associated, lower than the 5% threshold, require the rejection of the null hypothesis.