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The role of meaning in life in psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Source :
- Anxiety, Stress & Coping; Jan2023, Vol. 36 Issue 1, p67-82, 16p, 3 Charts
- Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- Meaning in life may function as a protective factor in the context of potentially traumatic experiences, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated the associations between meaning and psychological distress (i.e., depression, anxiety, COVID-19-related PTSD) prospectively and cross-sectionally. We hypothesized that meaning inversely predicts peri-pandemic distress and that meaning moderates the association between being negatively affected by the pandemic and distress. We additionally explored cross-sectional associations between meaning subcomponents and distress and a meaning violations perspective. Undergraduate students (N = 109) completed questionnaires before (October 2019 to March 2020; meaning, anxiety) and during the pandemic (April to June 2020; meaning, meaning subcomponents, depression, anxiety, PTSD). Correcting for family-wise errors, meaning prospectively predicted less depression and anxiety, but not PTSD. Correcting for family-wise errors, peri-pandemic meaning was consistently related with peri-pandemic distress. Meaning did not moderate the link between being affected by the pandemic and distress. The meaning subcomponent comprehension was most strongly related with distress and a meaning violations perspective was partly supported. Meaning emerged as a significant correlate of peri-pandemic distress. Current findings should be replicated longitudinally and experimentally to establish their robustness and to examine the causal influence of meaning on distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 10615806
- Volume :
- 36
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Anxiety, Stress & Coping
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 161465486
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2022.2113993