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Abstract: Previous research has linked meaning in life and religiosity, usually relying on simplistic unidimensional models. The present study revisited these relations, viewing both religiosity and meaning as multidimensional constructs. Dimensions of religiosity (Inclusion of Transcendence and Symbolic Interpretation) were assessed in two adult Hungarian samples (Ns 330, 437) and associations were assessed with presence of meaning (Studies 1 and 2) and search for meaning (Study 2), controlling for personality traits (Study 2). Inclusion of Transcendence was positively related to presence of meaning, and Symbolic Interpretation was positively related to search for meaning. Differing patterns of relations across explicit and implicit measures of presence of meaning suggested potentially important distinctions between whether people believe and how they believe. Together, results show that life appears more meaningful when religiosity is complex and open. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Understanding how adolescents achieve meaning in life has important implications for their psychological development. A social cognitive model of meaning development was tested by assessing psychological (self-efficacy, self-regulation and social comparison) and parental (parental responsiveness, demandingness, and social support) variables in a sample of 1944 adolescents (aged 15-19 years; 47.8% males) from secondary schools of the Middle Transylvanian Region, Romania. Both psychological and parental factors were significantly related to meaning in life. For both boys and girls, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and maternal responsiveness related positively with meaning in life, and paternal demandingness related inversely to meaning in life. However, social comparison related positively to meaning only among boys, and paternal responsiveness related positively to meaning only among girls. Results point to a possible meaning-supporting role played by social cognitive variables, as well as parental autonomy support. The gender differences observed here suggest that existing theories of meaning development may need to be elaborated to include family of origin and gender.