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Although there is growing evidence supporting the association between intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and psychopathology, little is known about the covariation of IU and psychological distress day-to-day. The purpose of this ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study was to examine negative emotional and somatic correlates of trait IU and daily uncertainty, while investigating how a source of stability, meaning in life (MIL), might buffer against deleterious effects of IU and uncertainty. Adult community members (n = 62) from a mid-size town in the Rocky Mountain region completed baseline measures of IU and MIL and ecological momentary assessments (EMA) of meaning, uncertainty, affect, and somatic symptoms over the course of one week. Results indicate individuals high in trait IU experience more uncertainty day-to-day and greater distress when they feel uncertain compared to individuals lower in trait IU; however, MIL plays a stronger protective role for high IU compared to low IU individuals. These findings support and extend previous research showing IU is associated with psychological distress and that MIL may be a critical resource to cultivate. Interventions promoting meaning day-to-day may reduce the effects of uncertainty on the well-being of those highly intolerant of uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following calls for multidimensional conceptualizations of meaning in life, the tripartite view where meaning is seen to consist of significance, purpose, and coherence has gained in popularity. To operationalize it, we developed the Three Dimensional Meaning in Life Scale (3DM), confirming its factor structure, psychometric properties, and validity in Studies 1 (n = 301), 2 (n = 300), and 3 (n's = 171 & 161). Study 4 (n = 241) was experimental inviting participants to read vignettes in three conditions, each emphasizing one dimension of meaning in life, demonstrating that people can discriminate between lives high on each specific dimension. Study 5 (n = 336) investigated the separateness of significance and mattering, finding both overlap and distinctiveness, suggesting that they could be sub-facets of the same overarching dimension. The results thus provide empirical and experimental support for the tripartite view of meaning in life, while providing new nuance to it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research indicates that sensation seeking, emotion dysregulation, and impulsivity are predictive of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). A body of research supports that meaning in life predicts improved mental health and well-being, including fewer suicidal thoughts and attempts, yet no research has examined the moderating effects of meaning in life on the relations between personality and temperament and NSSI. Given the growing incidence rates of NSSI among adolescents and the potential lifelong consequences of NSSI, it is imperative to better understand the factors that reduce the rates at which adolescents in a clinical sample engage in NSSI. The present study investigates if the protective factors of meaning in life moderate the relation between personality and temperament variables and NSSI among 126 adolescents (71% female, Mage = 16.1, SD = 1.1, range 13–18, 80% White) residing in an inpatient psychiatric hospital who endorsed NSSI in the last 12 months. Results from hurdle modeling indicate that two subtypes of meaning in life, presence of meaning in life and search for meaning of life, may serve as robust protective factors against engagement in NSSI among a clinical sample of adolescents. Additionally, results suggest that search for meaning, but not presence of meaning in life, variables moderate the relations between personality and temperament and NSSI. Results provide evidence that meaning in life is an understudied variable of importance in understanding how to prevent or treat NSSI. It also underscores the need to develop, refine, and test meaning-making interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meaning in life has grown into a topic of great interest in psychological research. Conceptually, scholars differentiate between sources and components of meaning. However, the current scholarly views on meaning are highly cognitive and it is unclear to what extent they correspond with the understanding of lay people with cognitive difficulties, like those with Alzheimer's disease. Using directed content analysis, we analyzed short descriptions of meaning in life of 126 older adults with Alzheimer's disease, exploring whether the components (i.e., coherence, purpose, significance) and sources from the current literature could be identified and what additional themes emerged in their accounts. Replicating findings in other populations, family and relationships were the most prominent sources. Coherence and purpose were each described by 15% of participants, significance was almost not mentioned. We discuss the entanglement of components and sources in people's descriptions and the possibility of a connection facet underlying meaning. We provide evidence for a distinction between cognitive and felt coherence and show that many participants talked about fulfilled and purpose instead of future-oriented purpose, emphasizing the need for a developmental understanding of meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acción Psicológica is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: A sense of meaning and purpose is important for people living with acute and chronic illness. It can buffer the effects of stress and facilitate adaptive coping. As part of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS), we developed and validated an item response theory (IRT)-based measure of meaning and purpose in life. Methods: Informed by a literature review and patient and content-expert input, we wrote 52 items to assess meaning and purpose and administered them to a general population sample (n = 1000) along with the Meaning in Life Questionnaire-Presence of Meaning Subscale (MLQ-Presence) and the Life Engagement Test (LET). We split the sample in half for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). IRT analyses included assessments of differential item functioning (DIF). Results: Participants had a mean age of 47.8 years and 50.3% were male. EFA revealed one dominant factor and CFA yielded a good fitting model for a 37-item bank (CFI = 0.962, TLI = 0.960, RMSEA = 0.085). All items were free of sex, age, education, and race DIF. Internal consistency reliability estimates ranged from α = 0.90 (4-item short form) to α = 0.98 (37-item bank). The 8-item Meaning and Purpose short form was correlated with the MLQ-Presence (r = 0.89), the LET (r = 0.79), and the full PROMIS Meaning and Purpose item bank (r = 0.98). Conclusions: The PROMIS Meaning and Purpose measures demonstrated sufficient unidimensionality and displayed good internal consistency, model fit, and convergent validity. Further psychometric testing of the PROMIS Meaning and Purpose item bank and short forms in people with chronic diseases will help evaluate the generalizability of this new tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to establish a method for assessing implicit meaning in life (MIL), as well as to determine the relationship between implicit MIL and explicit MIL. This study also tested the hypothesis that implicit MIL would moderate the relationship between explicit MIL and depression. The participants were 242 undergraduate university students (120 women) aged between 18 and 23 (M = 19.71, SD = 1.25) years. Implicit MIL was assessed via a standard implicit association test. In addition, participants completed the Chinese version of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Structural equation modeling and other methods were used to analyze data. The results showed that implicit MIL demonstrated good validity in the implicit association test. Implicit and explicit MIL were uncorrelated and structurally distinct. In addition, the implicit presence of meaning moderated the relationship between the explicit presence of meaning and depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Despite the theoretical and empirical significance of positive aspects of caregiving in caregiver well-being, relatively little is known regarding family-related predictors of caregiver positivity. This study examines whether patient-family communication (p-f communication) mediates the relation between family hardiness and caregiver positivity and whether the mediating effects of p-f communication are moderated by the levels of caregiver depression and anxiety. Design/Sample: This study used secondary data obtained from a large-scale cross-sectional national survey conducted in South Korea. Participants were 544 spousal cancer patient-caregiver dyads recruited from the National Cancer Center and nine government-designated regional cancer centers in South Korea. Methods: To test the hypotheses, a simple mediation model and two moderated mediation tests were conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS. Findings: Higher family hardiness was related to higher p-f positive communication and higher caregiver positivity. The effects of family hardiness were partially mediated by p-f communication, controlling for caregiver sex, education, health status, depression and anxiety, time spent caregiving, and patient depression and anxiety, cancer stage, and time since diagnosis. The mediating effects of p-f communication were not significantly moderated by caregiver depression and anxiety. Conclusions/Implications: Health care professionals could consider p-f communication as a reasonable target of intervention to increase caregiver positivity, even for caregivers with heightened depression and anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-determination theory (SDT) has advanced the most comprehensive model of motives for human flourishing in the field of personality psychology and beyond. In this article, we evaluate SDT relative to the process of meaning making, particularly from a narrative perspective, showing what SDT can and cannot explain about the construction of self-identity and its relation to human flourishing. On the one hand, SDT explains how subjective assessments of need fulfillment drive the process of self-determined living. The internal motives that follow such fulfillment serve as important themes in people's life stories that predict several markers of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. On the other hand, SDT's focus on subjective fulfillment limits what SDT can explain about how wisdom, which is a canonical good of both eudaimonia and meaning making, helps people make sense of life's more difficult or unfulfilling events. SDT may facilitate a facet of wisdom that is more subjective and experiential but not the critical facet of wisdom defined by objectively more complex structures of interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the number of older workers in the U.S. is increasing, there is a gap in knowledge on whether or not they actually enjoy working. This study, based on a conceptual framework focusing on job resources and demands, explored likely workplace determinants of work enjoyment among older workers aged 50 or over. Using the 2012 wave of the Health and Retirement Study, a partial proportional odds model was used to detect determinants of work enjoyment. Results showed that higher levels of work enjoyment were significantly and negatively associated with the level of perceived retirement pressure and promotion preference for younger workers, and positively associated with moving to less demanding positions. Self-employment showed a noticeable enhancement of work enjoyment. This study highlights the significance of flexible work options and age discrimination in the workplace in understanding work enjoyment later in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) is a National Institutes of Health initiative designed to improve patient-reported outcomes using state-of-the-art psychometric methods. The aim of this study is to describe qualitative efforts to identify and refine items from psychological well-being subdomains for future testing, psychometric evaluation, and inclusion within PROMIS.Method: Seventy-two items from eight existing measures of positive affect, life satisfaction, meaning & purpose, and general self-efficacy were reviewed, and 48 new items were identified or written where content was lacking. Cognitive interviews were conducted in patients with cancer (n = 20; 5 interviews per item) to evaluate comprehensibility, clarity, and response options of candidate items.Results: A Lexile analysis confirmed that all items were written at the sixth grade reading level or below. A majority of patients demonstrated good understanding and logic for all items; however, nine items were identified as "moderately difficult" or "difficult" to answer. Patients reported a strong preference for confidence versus frequency response options for general self-efficacy items.Conclusions: Altogether, 108 items were sufficiently comprehensible and clear (34 positive affect, 10 life satisfaction, 44 meaning & purpose, 20 general self-efficacy). Future research will examine the psychometric properties of the proposed item banks for further refinement and validation as PROMIS measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive affect (PA) has consistently been shown to predict meaning in life (MIL). In one of the first investigations to examine multiple predictors of MIL simultaneously, we tested in three studies the hypothesis that satisfactions associated with being benevolent and fulfilling psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are more central predictors of MIL, and could explain the correlation between PA and MIL. Study 1, a cross-sectional survey, regressed the four suggested factors and PA simultaneously on MIL, showing that all four emerged as independent predictors, whereas PA and MIL were no longer connected. Study 2 looked at recollections of meaningful situations, showing that all four satisfactions and PA emerged as independent predictors of situational meaning. Study 3 used a diary method to show that daily fluctuations in autonomy, competence, relatedness, beneficence, and PA all simultaneously and independently predicted daily sense of meaning. However, a brief longitudinal study showed that whereas combined satisfaction of autonomy, competence, relatedness, and beneficence at T1 predicted general sense of MIL at T2, PA did not. Together, these studies show that the four satisfactions consistently emerge as independent predictors of both general and short-term meaning, in some situations even accounting for the relation between PA and general MIL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These papers apply Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to the task of quantifying how well assessment tools reflect theoretical constructs. Feraco and colleagues aim CFA at two possible problems with previous examinations of the structure of character strengths, using a 120-item revised version of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS). Perhaps additional ordinal CFA articles would extend support of the 6-virtue structure, but from this clinician's perspective, there is not enough evidence to bother using higher-order virtue scores at this time. [Extracted from the article]

In the wake of significant adversity, a range of recovery outcomes are possible, from prolonged distress to minimal effects on functioning and even psychological growth. Finding meaning in one's life is thought to facilitate optimal recovery from such adversity. Research on psychological growth and recovery often focuses on the daily hassles or significant traumas of convenience samples or on people's psychological recovery from medical illness. A small body of research is developing to test theories of growth among survivors of natural disasters. The present study of 57 survivors of the 2013 Colorado floods tested the incremental relations between posttraumatic growth (PTG) and dimensions of meaning in life, vitality, and perceived social support. The most consistent relations observed were among the one dimension of meaning-search for meaning-perceived social support, and PTG. Despite the limitations of this study, we conclude that search for meaning in life may be an important part of recovery from natural disasters, floods being one example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing interest in meaning in life, many have voiced their concern over the conceptual refinement of the construct itself. Researchers seem to have two main ways to understand what meaning in life means: coherence and purpose, with a third way, significance, gaining increasing attention. Coherence means a sense of comprehensibility and one’s life making sense. Purpose means a sense of core goals, aims, and direction in life. Significance is about a sense of life’s inherent value and having a life worth living. Although some researchers have already noted this trichotomy, the present article provides the first comprehensible theoretical overview that aims to define and pinpoint the differences and connections between these three facets of meaning. By arguing that the time is ripe to move from indiscriminate understanding of meaning into looking at these three facets separately, the article points toward a new future for research on meaning in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose and meaning in career development is a rapidly growing, cross-disciplinary area of research and practice in which counseling and vocational psychology aligns with positive psychology to yield promising applications to career counseling. We provide a brief overview of theory related to purpose and meaning in work, then review six specific areas of application: strengths, positive emotions and flow, gratitude, work hope, job crafting, and perceiving and living a calling. The links of these applications to theory and research are emphasized, and recommendations are offered for how counseling and vocational psychologists might leverage these applications in their work with clients engaged in the career development process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective Posttrauma adjustment theories postulate that intense stressors violate people's beliefs about the world and perceived ability to achieve valued goals. Failure to make meaning from traumatic events exacerbates negative adjustment (e.g., PTSD), whereas success facilitates positive adjustment (e.g., stress-related growth). The current study aimed to test this model of direct and indirect effects among a sample of veterans. Method Vietnam veterans ( N = 130) completed assessment measures in an online survey format. Participants were largely male (91%) and Caucasian (93%) with a mean age of 61 years. Results Results supported basic model tenets, linking military stress severity to violations of beliefs and goals. In the final model, only goal violations carried indirect effects of severity on PTSD symptoms. Presence of and search for meaning carried a portion of the indirect effects between goal violations and both PTSD and stress-related growth. Conclusion Findings suggest that traumatic stress may disrupt people's goals and meaning-making may center on these disruptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined whether college students who have academic majors that are incongruent with their career aims experience diminished career development. Because the value placed on self-expression differs across cultures, we tested hypotheses in both the United States (N = 301) and South Korea (N = 200). Similar proportions of American (20.2%) and South Korean students (25.5%) reported having an incongruent major. In both samples, students with incongruent majors reported significantly lower levels of career decision self-efficacy, meaningful work, and calling, with medium effect sizes. Potential moderators and mediator in the link of major incongruence to calling and meaningful work were also examined. The patterns of relations among major incongruence and career development indicators (i.e., career decision self-efficacy, meaningful work, and calling) did not differ by nationality or the levels of collectivism, indicating no significant moderating effects. Career decision self-efficacy was found to partially mediate the relation of major incongruence to calling and meaningful work in both samples. These results indicate that major incongruence relates to lower sense of calling and meaningful work in part because of decreased career decision self-efficacy. Directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Social relationships are seen to be vital to human functioning, both in terms of psychological functioning and physical health. Relationships are a cornerstone of well-being. For instance, having positive relationships has been linked to greater happiness, life satisfaction and physical health outcomes. Meaning in life, or the perception that one's life is significant and has a purpose, is another prominent cornerstone of well-being. As such, social relationships and meaning in life should have reciprocal associations. In this paper, cross-cultural theory and empirical research will be reviewed to explore the role of family, romantic and friendship relationships in supporting meaning in life. Further, we will discuss the implications of the current research and propose new directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research relying on self-report inventories has built an increased appreciation of the importance of meaning in life, such research has strayed somewhat from the original promise of meaning in life research, which was to shed light on the individual experience of meaning. Some research has focused on understanding people’s sources of meaning. However, previous methods have relied on verbal ways of assessing sources of meaning in life. In recognition of the fact that not everyone has highly developed verbal skills – and that even those who do can find it hard to articulate what life means – we offer a new method for understanding individuals’ experiences with meaning in life. In this article, we describe the use of photography to elicit information about people’s sources of meaning and provide inductive qualitative analysis of a pilot study using this method. Photography holds great potential as a new method for seeing meaning through another’s eyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research relying on self-report inventories has built an increased appreciation of the importance of meaning in life, such research has strayed somewhat from the original promise of meaning in life research, which was to shed light on the individual experience of meaning. Some research has focused on understanding people’s sources of meaning. However, previous methods have relied on verbal ways of assessing sources of meaning in life. In recognition of the fact that not everyone has highly developed verbal skills – and that even those who do can find it hard to articulate what life means – we offer a new method for understanding individuals’ experiences with meaning in life. In this article, we describe the use of photography to elicit information about people’s sources of meaning and provide inductive qualitative analysis of a pilot study using this method. Photography holds great potential as a new method for seeing meaning through another’s eyes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of International Journal of Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The central aim of the present study was to assess the predictive value of affective disposition and meaningful work on employee engagement. Specifically, it was proposed that meaningful work moderates the relationship between affective disposition and engagement. Questionnaires were completed by 252 white-collar employees, working in a variety of organizations and jobs across Israel, recruited from community-based samples on a voluntary basis. As hypothesized, work engagement, affective disposition, and meaningful work were positively correlated. Additionally, a significant interaction between affective disposition and meaningful work was found. The relationship between affective disposition and work engagement was found to differ by the extent to which individuals perceived their work as meaningful. Specifically, when work was not perceived as meaningful, employees characterized by high scores on affective disposition were more strongly engaged compared to employees who were characterized by low scores on affective disposition. However, when work was perceived as meaningful, there was no difference in level of engagement found between those with high or low scores on affective disposition. The implications of these results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the interaction of the Thanksgiving holiday with gratitude in relation to well-being using a three-week long, daily diary design with a sample of 172 undergraduate students. Multilevel modeling revealed that without controlling for gratitude, people reported higher levels of positive affect on Thanksgiving holiday than during other days of the study. Reports of life satisfaction, meaning in life, and negative affect did not differ during the holiday. When within-person and between-person levels of gratitude were included, negative relationships were revealed between Thanksgiving and life satisfaction and positive affect. The results from this study sustain the argument that holidays impact people’s well-being depending on certain individual psychological characteristics. In the case of Thanksgiving, gratitude was critical for understanding whether the holiday appeared to positively or negatively influence life satisfaction and positive affect. The present study also supported an important role for gratitude in achieving and maintaining well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the role of existential attitudes in adolescent health-related behavior has received increased attention recently, historically it has been underinvestigated in the field. The present study focuses on existential attitudes related to meaning in life and hopelessness. Relations of presence of meaning, search for meaning, and hopelessness with past and anticipated future involvement in problem-and health-enhancing behaviors were examined in a cross-sectional study of Eastern European (Transylvania, Romania) adolescents (N = 426, 42.1% males; M age = 16.5 year, range 15-18 years). Results indicated that these existential variables were significantly related to higher levels of healthy behaviors and lower levels of problem behaviors (hopelessness inversely). Among these existential factors, the search for meaning in life was the most significant contributor factor for adolescent behavior. As an overall conclusion, results point to the significant role that the search for meaning in life may play in the relation with adolescents' problem and health behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many people desire work that is meaningful. However, research in this area has attracted diverse ideas about meaningful work (MW), accompanied by an equally disparate collection of ways of assessing MW. To further advance study in this area, the authors propose a multidimensional model of work as a subjectively meaningful experience consisting of experiencing positive meaning in work, sensing that work is a key avenue for making meaning, and perceiving one’s work to benefit some greater good. The development of a scale to measure these dimensions is described, an initial appraisal of the reliability and construct validity of the instrument’s scores is reported using a sample of university employees (N = 370) representing diverse occupations. MW scores correlated in predicted ways with work-related and general well-being indices, and accounted for unique variance beyond common predictors of job satisfaction, days reported absent from work, and life satisfaction. The authors discuss ways in which this conceptual model provides advantages to scholars, counselors, and organizations interested in fostering MW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on work as a calling is limited by measurement concerns. In response, the authors introduce the multidimensional Calling and Vocation Questionnaire (CVQ) and the Brief Calling scale (BCS), instruments assessing presence of, and search for, a calling. Study 1 describes CVQ development using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a cross-validated split-sample approach with 456 undergraduates. The CVQ contained six reliable subscales that form CVQ-Presence and CVQ-Search scores, which demonstrated moderate 1-month test–retest reliability, good fit to a six-factor structure, and initial support for construct validity. Study 2 reports a multitrait–multimethod analysis with 134 undergraduates and 365 informants. Self-reported CVQ and BCS scores moderately to strongly correlated with informant reports and scores for both instruments correlated in hypothesized directions with work hope, prosocial work motivation, life meaning, and the search for meaning. CVQ and BCS scores provide psychometrically sound measures of calling, with the CVQ offering the potential for more fine-grained, multidimensional analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In career counseling, social justice is typically integrated by helping oppressed groups navigate their way around obstacles of injustice while also working to dislodge the oppressive conditions from society. The authors affirm both of these courses of action while also advocating a third strategy: inviting clients to serve as agents of change by introducing and incorporating prosocial values into career development interventions. This article makes the case that this strategy may enhance client well-being while simultaneously promoting harmony among organizations and society. Support for this strategy comes from theory, research, and the ethical approaches for working with values in counseling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing a sense of purpose is both salient and desirable for adolescents, and purpose in people's lives and careers is associated with both general and work-related well-being. However, little is known about whether purpose can be encouraged through school-based interventions. This article reports the results of a quasi-experimental pilot study and follow-up focus group that evaluated Make Your Work Matter, a three-module, school-based intervention designed to help adolescent youth explore, discover, and enact a sense of purpose in their early career development. Participants were eighth-grade students. Compared to the control group, the intervention group reported increases in several outcomes related to purpose-centered career development, such as a clearer sense of career direction; a greater understanding of their interests, strengths, and weaknesses; and a greater sense of preparedness for the future. However, no significant differences were found on items directly related to purpose, calling, and prosocial attitudes. These results inform the ongoing development of Make Your Work Matter and other school-based career interventions and pave the way for larger-scale trials of such purpose-promoting intervention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Searching for a coherent meaning in life has long been proposed to be a protective factor in adolescent development. Purpose: The present study aimed to examine meaning in life as a protective factor in a largely unstudied population: Romanian adolescents. Additionally, we sought to provide a novel, multidimensional assessment of several health-related variables (substance abuse, health risk behaviors, psychological health). Potential gender differences were explored regarding the role of life meaning in adolescent health. Method: Data were collected in 2006 from students enrolled in the secondary schools of the Middle Transylvanian Region, Romania ( n = 1,977). Self-administered questionnaires were used as a method of data collection including items of life meaning and psychological health. Results: Meaning in life played a protective role with regard to health risk behaviors except smoking and binge drinking. Among males, meaning in life was found to be correlated only to illicit drug and sedative use, whereas among females, meaning in life was associated with binge drinking, unsafe sex, and lack of exercise and diet control. Psychological health was strongly related to meaning in life. Conclusion: In Romanian adolescents, meaning in life is a protective factor against health risk behaviors and poor psychological health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Psychosocial factors, including religious coping, consistently have been implicated in the expression of anxiety disorders. This study sought to investigate the relationship between religious coping on anxiety symptoms among a nonclinical sample of African American and European American young adults. Methods: One hundred twenty-one European American and 100 African American young adults completed measures of anxiety and religious coping. Results: As predicted, results differed according to race. African Americans reported significantly more positive religious coping, less negative religious coping, and experienced fewer anxiety symptoms than European Americans. European Americans demonstrated a significant, positive relationship between negative religious coping and anxiety symptoms, and an opposite trend related to anxiety and positive religious coping. However, no such relationships emerged among the African American sample. Conclusions: Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. Depression and Anxiety, 2010. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scholarship indicates that people who view their work as a calling are more satisfied with their work and their lives. Historically, calling has been regarded as a religious experience, although modern researchers frequently have adopted a more expansive and secular conceptualization of calling, emphasizing meaning and personal fulfillment in work. The assumption that calling can be easily secularized and applied has not been tested. Therefore, we tested whether calling was related to psychological adjustment and positive work attitudes of both highly religious and less religious college students (N = 242). We also tested whether these positive relations were mediated by people's intrinsic religiousness or by a broader, secular construct, meaning in life. Moderation-mediation analyses supported views of calling centering on people's experience of meaning in their work rather than more constrained religious views. Implications for future research and practical applications of calling to positive work attitudes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Veterans of various service eras (N = 174) completed an Internet survey about combat exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression, guilt, and meaning in life. Results of a hierarchical regression indicated that younger age; higher levels of combat exposure, depression, and guilt; and lower meaning in life predicted greater PTSD severity. The interaction between meaning in life and depression also was significant, with a stronger inverse relation between meaning and PTSD at lower levels of depression. Meaning in life may be an important treatment concern for veterans with PTSD symptoms, particularly at higher levels of functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People experience well-being at both global (life) and domain (e.g. careers) levels, and presumably people experience meaning on both levels as well. Two studies assessed whether finding meaning on one level "satisfies" people's search for meaning at the other level. Study 1 assessed this question by analysing survey responses from 231 undergraduate students, finding a significant interaction such that people seeking global-level meaning in life reported greater well-being and self-efficacy in choosing a career if they experienced domainlevel meaning in their careers. Study 2 used both calling-focused and traditional career workshops in an effort to experimentally induce a sense of domain level meaning in careers in a sample of 91 undergraduate students. There was a trend for people seeking global-level meaning in life to report greater reductions in depressive symptoms and increased domain-level meaning in their careers following the workshops. Together these studies suggest that people seeking global-level meaning in life are, indeed, satisfied by experiencing meaning in their careers. We discuss these results in terms of how career and workplace interventions might be tailored according to how intently people are seeking meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meaning in life is thought to be important to well-being throughout the human life span. We assessed the structure, levels, and correlates of the presence of meaning in life, and the search for meaning, within four life stage groups: emerging adulthood, young adulthood, middle-age adulthood, and older adulthood. Results from a sample of Internet users (N = 8756) demonstrated the structural invariance of the meaning measure used across life stages. Those at later life stages generally reported a greater presence of meaning in their lives, whereas those at earlier life stages reported higher levels of searching for meaning. Correlations revealed that the presence of meaning has similar relations to well-being across life stages, whereas searching for meaning is more strongly associated with well-being deficits at later life stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although having a sense of purpose and meaning in life has been found to play an important role in overall life and career satisfaction, this is not an area that is typically cultivated during career exploration activities. This article provides a model for aiding students in developing a sense of purpose in their career search through strengths-based practices. The authors present five key elements that reinforce the development of purpose, including identity, self-efficacy, metacognition, culture, and service. Each of these areas is used as a focal point to help identify ways for students to recognize and rely on their strengths in the development of meaningful careers. Each element is defined, relevant research is provided, and strategies for promoting each element are discussed. Additionally, the relationship between purpose-centered career development and the career standards of the ASCA National Model® is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes and demonstrates a novel approach to assessing goals and motives among individuals engaged in the career decision-making and planning process. Participants generated five career development strivings, rated each striving along several dimensions (self-efficacy, outcome expectations, sense of calling, spiritual significance, and materialism), and completed measures of conceptually related and unrelated variables. Results indicated adequate to strong internal consistency reliability for the strivings appraisal scale scores, and the pattern of correlations support the convergent and discriminant validity for scores obtained using this approach. We conclude that the career development strivings strategy has great potential as a flexible and efficient tool for use in career development research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although several theories assert that understanding the search for meaning in life is important, empirical research on this construct is sparse. Three studies provide the first extensive effort to understand the correlates of the search for meaning in a multistudy research program. Assessed were relations between search for meaning and well-being, cognitive style, and the Big Five, Big Three, Approach/Avoidance, and Interest models of personality, with a particular emphasis on understanding the correlates of search for meaning that are independent of presence of meaning. Conceptual models of the relation between search and presence were tested. Findings suggest that people lacking meaning search for it; the search for meaning did not appear to lead to its presence. Study 3 found that basic motive dispositions moderated relations between search for meaning and its presence. Results highlight the importance of basic personality dispositions in understanding the search for meaning and its correlates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined curiosity as a mechanism for achieving and maintaining high levels of well-being and meaning in life. Of primary interest was whether people high in trait curiosity derive greater well-being on days when they are more curious. We also tested whether trait and daily curiosity led to greater, sustainable well-being. Predictions were tested using trait measures and 21 daily diary reports from 97 college students. We found that on days when they are more curious, people high in trait curiosity reported more frequent growth-oriented behaviors, and greater presence of meaning, search for meaning, and life satisfaction. Greater trait curiosity and greater curiosity on a given day also predicted greater persistence of meaning in life from one day into the next. People with greater trait curiosity reported more frequent hedonistic events but they were associated with less pleasure compared to the experiences of people with less trait curiosity. The benefits of hedonistic events did not last beyond the day of their occurrence. As evidence of construct specificity, curiosity effects were not attributable to Big Five personality traits or daily positive or negative mood. Our results provide support for curiosity as an ingredient in the development of well-being and meaning in life. The pattern of findings casts doubt on some distinctions drawn between eudaimonia and hedonic well-being traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Counselors and researchers interested in examining meaning in life often use the Life Regard lndex (LRI; J. Battista & R. Almond, 1973). In this study, confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) of several factor models based on J. Battista & R. Almond's work failed to support the structural validity of the LRI. CFA results suggested an influence of positive and negative item wording, and subsequent exploratory factor analyses suggested 3 factors for the LRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meaning in life and life satisfaction are both important variables in well-being research. Whereas an appreciable body of work suggests that life satisfaction is fairly stable over long periods of time, little research has investigated the stability of meaning in life ratings. In addition, it is unknown whether these highly correlated variables change independent of each other over time. Eighty-two participants (mean age = 19.3 years, SD 1.4; 76% female; 84% European-American) completed measures of the presence of meaning in life, the search for meaning in life, and life satisfaction an average of 13 months apart (SD = 2.3 months). Moderate stability was found for presence of meaning in life, search for meaning in life, and life satisfaction. Multiple regressions demonstrated specificity in predicting change among these measures. Support for validity and reliability of these variables is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]