Levels Of Meaning In Life Research Articles

Values Realized in Personal Strivings and Motivation, and Meaning in Life in Polish University Students

The present study was based on two theoretical conceptions—Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory and its characteristic approach to values, and the conception of meaning in life derived from the Logotherapy of Frankl. The aim of the study was to verify the thesis that values realized in personal strivings play a significant role in experiencing meaning in life. The study was also designed to explore the relationships between types of motivation and meaning in life. A semi-open method was used to study values and striving motivations, one based on the Personal Striving Assessment by Emmons and the Purpose in Life Test by Maholick and Crumbaugh. The sample comprised 353 students of Wrocław-based universities (159 women and 194 men). The findings of this study demonstrated that meaning in life is related to motivation as well as to certain values that participants reported as realized in their personal strivings. Predictors of meaning in life were the value of financial success for men, and the value of intimacy/friendship for women. Another predictor of meaning for both groups was external motivation. Further interesting results discussed in this paper were obtained by comparing individuals with low and those with high levels of meaning in life. The latter group was found to attribute greater importance to autonomous motivation and to attach greater meaning to their everyday strivings by associating them more closely with both intrinsic and extrinsic values.

Finding a Life Worth Living: Meaning in Life and Graduation from College.

Graduation from college is an important milestone for young adults, marked by mixed emotions and poignancy, and therefore is an especially salient context for studying meaning in life. The present research used experience-sampling methodology to examine the antecedents and consequences of students' experience of meaning in life over the course of graduation. Participants were 74 graduating students who provided a total of 538 reports over the span of three days, including commencement day. Increased levels of state meaning in life during the days around commencement were linked to spending time with people in general and with family in particular, as well as thinking about one's years in college. Thinking about one's years in college mediated the effects of present company on state meaning in life. Graduates who experienced higher levels of state meaning in life during the days around their commencement ceremony had higher trait levels of meaning in life one week following commencement. We discuss how making meaning of a poignant experience has implications for healthy psychological development.

Meaning in life and intuition.

Three correlational studies and 2 experiments examined the association between meaning in life (MIL) and reliance on intuitive information processing. In Studies 1-3 (total N = 5,079), Faith in Intuition (FI) scale and MIL were correlated positively, controlling for religiosity, positive mood, self-esteem, basic need satisfaction, and need for cognition. Two experiments manipulated processing style. In Study 4 (N = 614), participants were randomly assigned to complete the Cognitive Reflection Task (CRT; Fredrick, 2005) either immediately before (reflective/low intuitive mindset condition) or immediately after (control condition) rating MIL. Condition did not affect MIL. However, low MIL rated before the CRT predicted superior performance and greater time spent on the task. The association between reflection and MIL was curvilinear, such that MIL was strongly negatively related to CRT performance particularly at low levels of MIL. In Study 5 (N = 804), intuitive or reflective mindsets were induced and FI and MIL were measured. Induced processing style study did not affect MIL. However, those high in MIL were more responsive to the intuitive mindset induction. The relationship between FI and MIL was curvilinear (in this and the correlational studies), with intuitive processing being strongly positively related to MIL particularly at higher levels of MIL. Although often considered in the context of conscious reflection, MIL shares a positive relationship with reliance on gut feelings, and high MIL may facilitate reliance on those feelings. (PsycINFO Database Record

Self-concept clarity’s role in meaning in life among American college students: A latent growth approach

Meaning in life (MIL) is a fundamental building block of well-being, and MIL theory heavily emphasizes the importance of using self-knowledge to identify what makes life meaningful and to select suitable purposes to pursue in life. However, few studies have investigated this important theoretical point. The purpose of the present study was to investigate individual growth trajectories of self-knowledge, measured with a construct of self-concept clarity (SCC), and MIL. This study also examined whether the change of SCC predicts the change pattern of MIL using cross-domain latent growth analyses, controlling for the level of perceived stress. A longitudinal data-set with seventh measurement points was gathered from a total of 285 college students at a large Midwest university in the US during the period of 8 weeks. On average, a student’s levels of MIL and SCC tend to show a small amount of linear increase during the first semester of college, with individual differences in patterns of change. From a change perspective, SCC significantly predicted the sense of MIL, supporting the significance of having a clear self-view in perceiving life as more meaningful.

Structure and Levels of Meaning in Life and Its Relationship With Mental Health in Chinese Students Aged 10 to 25

This study examines the usage of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire in Chinese students aged from 10 to 25 within four age groups ( N = 5,510): early adolescence (10–13 years old, n = 1,258), middle adolescence (14–17 years old, n = 1,987), late adolescence (18–21 years old, n = 1,950) and early adulthood (22–25 years old, n = 315); and analyses the structure and levels of meaning in life, as well as the relationship between meaning in life and mental health. Results showed that: (1) the Meaning in Life Questionnaire in the four age groups of Chinese students had good construct validity and internal consistency reliability; (2) the average levels of the presence of meaning and search for meaning of Chinese students were moderate or above, and had obvious differences according to gender and family location (i.e., urban vs. rural); (3) the level of presence of meaning showed a trend of rising rapidly in middle adolescence and the level of search for meaning continued to rise in early adolescence and fell rapidly towards the end of adolescence; (4) presence of meaning was positively related to life satisfaction and positive affect and negatively related to depression and negative affect, and the same correlations were found with search for meaning.

Supportive College Environment for Meaning Searching and Meaning in Life Among American College Students

We examined whether American college students who perceive their college environment as supportive for their meaning searching report higher levels of meaning in life. We also examined whether students’ perception of college environmental support for meaning searching moderates the relation between the presence of and search for meaning. Students’ perception of college environmental support for meaning searching significantly predicted their presence of meaning in life above and beyond the variance accounted for by searching for meaning and life satisfaction. The relation between the presence of and search for meaning differed by the levels of students’ perception of college environmental support for meaning searching. For students with a lower sense of college environmental support for meaning searching, the presence of meaning decreased as searching for meaning increased. In contrast, for students with a higher sense of support, the presence of meaning increased as searching for meaning increased. The findings suggest that a supportive college environment for meaning searching may promote American college students’ sense of meaning by buffering the potential negative effect of searching for meaning.

大学生外向性、活力与生命意义感的关系研究

目的：探讨大学生的活力感在外向性和生命意义感之间的中介作用。方法：随机在河南省某大学选取249名大学生，采用主观活力量表，中国大五人格问卷简版及生命意义感量表进行测量。结果：外向性与活力均对生命意义感有正向预测作用，控制了活力后，外向性对生命意义感的正向预测作用不再显著。结论：活力感在外向性和生命意义感之间起完全中介作用。 Objective: To investigate the mediating role of subjective vitality between extraversion and meaning in life among college students. Methods: Totally 249 college students were surveyed with the Chinese Big Five Personality Inventory (brief version), Subjective Vitality Scale and Meaning in life Questionnaire. Results: Regression analysis indicated that both extraversion and vitality predict the level of meaning in life positively, and extraversion didn’t have significant positive pre-dictability after vitality was controlled. Conclusion: The result of the research shows that vitality totally mediates the relationship between extraversion and meaning in life.

Social connectedness as a source and consequence of meaning in life

Multiple studies have shown that the sense of belonging and connectedness contribute to meaning in life, but does meaning also influence social connectedness? The present research examines the reciprocal relationships between meaning and different types of connectedness: intimate, relational, and collective. Analyzing data from a nationally representative longitudinal study (Study 1) with cross-lagged panel models, we found that only collective connectedness was prospectively associated with meaning, whereas meaning was prospectively associated with all three types of connectedness, controlling for life satisfaction. The beneficial effect of meaning extended to behavioral indicators of collective and intimate connectedness (Study 2). Higher levels of meaning in life were prospectively associated with an increased likelihood of joining voluntary associations and getting married, and, for people high in marital satisfaction, with a decreased likelihood of marital separation. Together, these findings suggest that the relationship between social connectedness and meaning in life is bidirectional.

Spirituality attenuates the association between depression symptom severity and meaning in life

Objectives: This cross-sectional study examined whether spirituality moderates the association between depression symptom severity and meaning in life among treatment-seeking adults.Method: Participants were 55 adults (≥60 years of age) newly seeking outpatient mental health treatment for mood, anxiety, or adjustment disorders. Self-report questionnaires measured depression symptom severity (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), spirituality (Spirituality Transcendence Index), and meaning in life (Geriatric Suicide Ideation Scale-Meaning in Life subscale).Results: Results indicated a significant interaction between spirituality and depression symptom severity on meaning in life scores (β = .26, p = .02). A significant negative association between depression symptom severity and meaning in life was observed at lower but not the highest levels of spirituality.Conclusion: In the presence of elevated depressive symptomatology, those participants who reported high levels of spirituality reported comparable levels of meaning in life to those without elevated depressive symptomatology. Assessment of older adult patients’ spirituality can reveal ways that spiritual beliefs and practices can be can be incorporated into therapy to enhance meaning in life.

Judgments of Meaning in Life, Religious Beliefs, and the Experience of Cognitive (Dis)Fluency.

The primary aim of the current studies was to test whether religiousness interacted with self-reported levels of meaning in life (MIL) to predict the ease or difficulty in judging one's MIL, the search for meaning itself, and religious doubt. Undergraduate students in Study 1 (N = 111) and adult participants recruited online in Study 2 (N = 206) completed measures of religious beliefs, MIL, cognitive fluency related to MIL, and related variables. Study 3 merged these data sets. In Study 4 (N = 255), online participants completed measures of religious beliefs, cognitive fluency related to religious beliefs, and MIL. Studies 1 and 2 showed that highly religious people with lower MIL reported greater difficulty making their MIL judgments than other people. Study 3 showed that they were also more likely to search for MIL and that disfluency mediated this effect. Study 4 demonstrated that they also reported more difficult judgments of religious beliefs and more religious doubts than their religious peers with high MIL. The current studies demonstrate that the experience of ease or difficulty associated with MIL judgments represents an important yet largely unexamined aspect of MIL. Our findings have implications for understanding the cognitive mechanisms underlying responses to meaning threats.

The Effect of Group Logotherapy on Meaning in Life and Depression Levels of Iranian Students.

This paper identifies the effectiveness of group logotherapy in reducing depression and increasing meaning in life levels of university students in Iran. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with a pre- post- and follow-up test design. The instruments used were the Purpose in Life (PIL) test and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Data were collected from 10 subjects in an experimental group and 10 in a control group. The experimental group participated in 10 sessions of group logotherapy, whilst the control group received no intervention. The mean scores for depression levels was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group and significantly higher in regard to meaning in life. Results suggest that group logotherapy has the potential to reduce depression levels and improve the meaning in life of university students.

Balance Among Character Strengths and Meaning in Life

Several scholars have suggested that character strengths are interdependent and should be in balance for a meaningful and fulfilling life, but this hypothesis has not been tested. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess if the degree of agreement between selected character strength pairs was positively related to meaning in life and if the level of difference between pairs was negatively associated with meaning in life. Using polynomial regression with response surface mapping, results indicated that honesty and kindness, love and social intelligence, and hope and gratitude had the strongest relations to meaning in life when both pairs were in agreement. When one character strength was higher than its pair, this predicted lower levels of meaning in life. The exception was bravery and fairness where the degree of discrepancy predicted meaning life when bravery was higher than fairness. These results suggest that balance among character strengths is important for meaning in life.

대학생의 죽음에 대한 인지도와 자아존중감이 삶의 의미에 미치는 영향

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to investigate the level of meaning in life(MIL) among university students as well as identify the effects of death perception, including good death and concerns about dying, and self-esteem on MIL. Methods: A questionnaire survey was developed and carried out using a convenient sampling method (N=301). Data were analyzed by applying descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Duncan test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: The average score for MIL was 4.70 on a 7-point scale. The factor of purpose of life received highest score among all factors in MIL. MIL was positively correlated with age, good death, and self-esteem. However, concerns about dying were negatively correlated with MIL. MIL showed a strong association with self-esteem(r=.72). Specifically, self-esteem(<TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>=.608), satisfaction of school life(<TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>=.190), relationship with parents(<TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>=.180), good death(<TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>=.080), school grades(<TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>=.078), and age(<TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>=.074) all significantly influenced MIL. These variables accounted for 61.0% of the total variance. Conclusion: The results show that self-esteem is an important factor for MIL among university students. Therefore, self-esteem should be carefully considered to increase their MIL. These research findings can be utilized to support programs such as counseling and education of university students.

Through the windows of the soul: A pilot study using photography to enhance meaning in life

A pilot study is presented using a photographic method for participants to explore where meaning in their lives comes from. Eighty-six university students were instructed to take 9–12 photographs of “things that make your life feel meaningful.” One week later, participants returned, viewed, and described their photographs. Significant within-person improvements in levels of meaning in life, life satisfaction, and positive affect were observed following the intervention.

The Role of Meaning in Life and Religious Experience amongst Young People with Specific Personality Profiles

The aims of the research I embarked on were: (a) to define the level of meaning in life, and intensity of motivation to look for meaning and purpose in life, level of personality traits and the level of religious experience: God's presence and God's absence in the lives in a group of students; and (b) to show the relationship between meaning in life, and motivation to look for meaning and purpose in life, and religious experience: God's presence and God's absence in groups of students with specific profiles of personality. In the research the following methods were applied: in order to define the level of religious experience: God's presence and God's absence - The Scale of Religious Experience(SDR) by S. Głaz, in order to define meaning in life - The Purpose in Life Test (PIL) by J. Crumbaugh and L. Maholick, and intensity of motivation to look for meaning and purpose in life - The Seeking of Noetic Goals Test (SONG) by J. Crumbaugh was applied, and in order to establish the personality profiles among students - The Personality Questionnaire (NEO-FFI) - R. McCrae'a and P. Costa. The research was carried out in Kraków among 134 university students. The subject group consisted of students of several non-Catholic public and state universities. All participants were Polish born, culturally homogeneous, and stemmed from families of average affluence. The age of the respondents ranged from 19 to 24.

“Kids Are Joy”

This study examined the psychological welfare associated with gay men couplehood (being in relationship) and gay fatherhood. From a sample of 204 Israeli gay men (age range 19-79), we compared 45 gay fathers (55.6% of them being in a steady relationship) with 45 individually matched gay men who were not fathers on indicators of psychological welfare, namely, subjective well-being, depressive symptoms (a reverse indicator), and meaning in life. In line with the study hypothesis, the results indicated that couplehood and parenthood were both associated with higher psychological welfare. Whereas the previously reported heterosexual “parenthood paradox” relates parenthood to decreased levels of subjective well-being along with increased levels of meaning in life, the current study suggests that gay fathers have elevated levels of both subjective well-being and meaning in life. We discuss possible interpretations of the findings.

The unbearable lightness of meaning: Well-being and unstable meaning in life

Psychological theories prioritize developing enduring sources of meaning in life. As such, unstable meaning should be detrimental to well-being. Two daily experience sampling studies were conducted to test this hypothesis. Across the studies, people with greater instability of daily meaning reported lower daily levels of meaning in life, and lower global levels of life satisfaction, positive affect, social connectedness and relationship satisfaction, along with higher global levels of negative affect and depression. In addition, instability of meaning interacted with average daily levels of meaning to account for significant variance in meaning in life scores. Relative to people with more stable meaning, people with unstable meaning tended to score near the middle of the distribution of well-being, whether they reported high or low levels of daily meaning. Results are discussed with an eye toward a better understanding of meaning in life and developing interventions to stabilize and maximize well-being.

The Role of the Meaning of Life and Religious Experience of God’s Presence and God's Absence Amongst Students with Different Levels of Conscience Sensitivity

The aim of the author's own research was: (a) defining the level of meaning in life and the level of religious experience (God's presence and God's absence) in groups of students with high and low levels of conscience sensitivity and (b) showing the connection between meaning in life and the level of religious experience (God's presence and God's absence) in groups of students with high and low levels of conscience sensitivity. The study was conducted in 2009–2010 among university students in Kraków. The subject group consisted of students of several non-Catholic public and state universities. All participants were Polish born, culturally homogeneous, and stemmed from families of average affluence. The age of the respondents ranged from 21 to 25. Two-hundred and forty sets of correctly completed questionnaires were used for the results analysis.

Four-year prospective evaluation of the relationship between meaning in life and smoking status

BackgroundTo date, all investigations on the relationship between smoking and perceived level of meaning in life have used cross-sectional designs. Therefore, the purpose of the present prospective study, conducted with a four-year time lag, was to test the predictive power of the life meaning construct concerning changes in smoking status.MethodsThe data of 4,294 respondents (40.3% male, Mage = 54.7 ± 16.5 yrs) from the Hungarian Epidemiological Panel Survey were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann–Whitney U-test and structural equation modeling (SEM) with a nominal outcome variable. Gender, age, and educational level were included in the study as covariates.ResultsOn the bivariate level, results showed that both baseline and follow-up meaning in life scores were higher in stable non-smokers when compared to stable smokers. However, quitters and starters differed from stable non-smokers in their baseline but not in follow-up life meaning scores. The other relationships (stable smokers vs. quitters; stable smokers vs. starters, starters vs. quitters) were non-significant in both time points. According to the SEM-analysis, a higher sense of meaning in life measured at baseline and follow-up is associated with a lower likelihood (OR = 0.54, z = 2.80, p = 0.005; OR = 0.64, z = 2.88, p = 0.004, respectively) of being a stable smoker compared to being a stable non-smoker, confirming the expected relationship between smoking and decreased level of meaning in life. However, neither baseline nor follow-up life meaning scores predicted significantly quitting and uptake of smoking.ConclusionsIf future research from other cultures verifies the protective role of a higher level of meaning in life against smoking, then smoking prevention and cessation programs will also have to include such components that help individuals experience more meaning in their lives.

Does perceived burdensomeness erode meaning in life among older adults?

Background: Identification of risk factors for the loss of meaning in life among older adults is needed. In this article, we test hypotheses derived from the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide concerning the role of perceptions that one is a burden on others as a risk factor for lower meaning in life. Methods: A prospective design was used to examine the temporal associations between perceptions of burdensomeness on others and perceived meaning in life among older adults (n = 65) seeking mental health treatment (primarily for depression and/or anxiety) at an outpatient geriatric mental health clinic. Participants completed self-report questionnaires within a month following intake. Follow-up questionnaires were completed over the phone two months later. Results: Perceived burdensomeness predicted lack of meaning in life two months later, while accounting for depression severity. In contrast, baseline levels of meaning in life did not significantly predict the levels of burdensomeness at two months. Conclusion: The findings suggest that burdensomeness may contribute to suicide morbidity and mortality in late-life by eroding meaning in life. Empirically supported treatments for late-life depression could be adapted to focus on perceptions of burdensomeness and its connections with meaning in life.