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The aim of this article is to review the importance of the question of life's meaning, mainly for intellectually gifted, as well as suggesting possibilities for educational and therapeutic approaches with an integration between Dabrowski's proposals and Frankl's and Yalom's existential psychotherapies for enhancing meaning. In particular, we suggest that a successful transition between childhood and adult giftedness depends upon the gifted individual's finding meaning in their life and a sense of purpose through which to try to achieve it. The article is based on an integration of theory-based propositions, a review of existing research, and clinical observations. We conclude that it is important to integrate ideas about existential problems into education and psychotherapy for the gifted, increasing gifted individuals' sense of meaning through development of human values, a eudaimonic life orientation, full expression of potential, generativity, harmony, self-compassion, and spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the goal selection patterns among adolescents and examines the extent to which goals focused on oneself, relationships, and the larger community were associated with variability of daily purpose and mean level sense of purpose in life. Methods: Participants were 213 high school students with an average age of 15.18 years in an urban public school district in the Northeast United States. Students were asked to select their three most important goals one time and report on their sense of purpose once a day for 3 weeks in spring of 2022. Latent class analysis was used to classify students by the type of goals selected. Differences in the overall sense of purpose and its subscales by class were examined. Results: A model with four classes (Self and Inner Circle, Inner Circle, Other‐Oriented, and Self‐Oriented) best fits the data. There were no statistical group differences in the variability of daily purpose and overall sense of purpose. Only one pairwise comparison was significant and indicated that students in the Other‐Oriented group perceived their purpose as more meaningful than students in the Self and Inner Circle group. Conclusions: Findings from this study provide a lens into goal prioritization patterns among adolescents. Further, although students who were more likely to select other‐oriented goals had somewhat higher perceptions of sense of purpose, findings support the concept of equifinality by suggesting that a sense of purpose may be actualized through a diverse set of specific goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The feeling that life has meaning or purpose is essential for human beings. Absence of meaning can lead to an existential vacuum. Purpose in life, akin to meaning in life, derives from the humanistic psychology theory of Frankl, and they are considered synonymous. Other scholars, however, regard the two constructs as distinct. The objective of the review was to map both concepts in the gerontological literature, examining how they manifest in aging. The review of the databases was carried out between January 2019 and March 2020. Thirty articles were included. In the context of aging, results were conflicting. The literature review yielded evidence to affirm that meaning and purpose in life are distinct concepts, despite sharing the same existential-philosophical roots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Psocial is the property of Revista de Investigacion en Psicologia Social 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.)

Does retirement lead to an existential crisis or present an opportunity to experience a renewed sense of purpose in life? Prior research has documented a negative association between retirement and sense of purpose in life, suggesting that retirement could lead people to feel aimless and lost. We revisited these findings using a quasiexperimental approach and identified the causal impact of retirement on purpose in life. In a nationally representative panel of American adults (N = 8,113), we applied an instrumental-variable analysis to assess how Social Security retirement incentives in the United States drove differences in the likelihood of retirement. Results showed a sizable increase in purpose in life as an outcome of retirement. These improvements were driven by individuals with lower socioeconomic status who retired from dissatisfying jobs. The findings suggest that retirement may provide an opportunity to experience a renewed sense of purpose, especially among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Employment appears to influence employees' sense of purpose, insofar as work roles can provide life direction and allow individuals to fulfill meaningful aims or have regular goal‐related activity engagement. However, research is needed on which specific characteristics of the work predict employees' sense of purpose. The current study sought to quantitate the degree to which specific work characteristics, including skill variety, autonomy, coworker support, and supervisor support, were associated with initial levels and changes in purpose. Additionally, we examine positive and negative work‐home spillover as moderators of these relationships. Methods: We examined hypothesized relationships in a subsample (N = 4,963) of a nationally representative panel study which included between two and three assessments of work characteristics, spillover, and sense of purpose, each roughly 10 years apart. Results: Using multilevel models to assess within‐person associations and lagged effects, we found that greater skill variety and coworker support but not autonomy or supervisor support, were associated with higher levels of purpose. Moreover, increases in purpose were associated with higher initial levels of skill variety. These relationships were not moderated by spillover. Conclusion: Individuals with skill variety and coworker support at work appear to experience the strongest levels of sense of purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Student mental health problems are now commonly understood using a psychiatric model in which diagnosed anxiety and mood disorders are viewed to be so widespread as to constitute a crisis. Less attention is given to the role of developmental processes, such as identity formation and purpose, in understanding the types of distress current university students can experience. We fill this void by simultaneously assessing the effectiveness of both psychiatric and developmental variables in predicting how often students feel emotional distress in the form of frequently feeling too anxious, depressed, or overwhelmed to study.Methods: Binary logit models were fitted to online survey data collected from a cross-sectional, nation-wide sample of 1010 Canadian full-time university students aged 18 to 24 (63% female).Results: Our findings confirm that the psychiatric and developmental models both explain variance in academic distress. We also found that a developmental model operationalized using key measures of identity formation and purpose significantly accounted for academic distress, over and above variance explained by psychiatric diagnoses. In other words, not only do many students with a psychiatric diagnosis experience distress linked to problems with identity/purpose that interferes with studying, but so do a considerable proportion of students without any diagnosis. This impact persists after controlling for a host of variables assessing demographic/family background, academic preparation and performance, and a number of factors believed to aggravate emotional distress.Conclusions: Universities can respond to the mental health crisis by approaching some forms of distress as developmental problems associated with identity and purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differences in the meaning in life (MiL) of people with mental disorders are analyzed. Participants were 157 Spanish out-patients (28 men, 17.83%, and 129 women, 82.17%) age-ranged from 13 to 68 years old (M = 32.58, SD = 13.34) and diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum (n = 20), eating (n = 85), anxiety (n = 28), and major depressive disorders (n = 24). A Spanish adaptation of the Purpose-in-Life Test, which showed an excellent internal consistency, v = 0.91, was used. An analysis of covariance showed a significant effect of diagnosis in MiL (F (4, 192) = 27.08, p = 0.000, h2 = 0.371) after controlling for the effects of gender (F (1, 192) = 2.34, p = 0.128), age (F (1, 192) = 0.58, p = 0.447), and length of evolution (F (1, 192) = 0.29, p = 0.589). A Bonferroni post hoc test showed significant differences between both the schizophrenia-spectrum and eating groups and both the anxiety and depression groups were found. MiL might play a positive role in therapeutic interventions in people with mental disorders. The pursuit and attainment of significant life goals are successful in the management of mental disorders and positively influence the therapeutic process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to test the hypothesis that the relationship between religiousness and psychological well-being could be mediated by the levels of meaning or purpose in life a person experiences. A survey study was carried out. A sample comprising 1553 participants from Latin America (87.6 % female), with age ranging from 18 to 70 years (M = 40.16, DE = 16.02) completed a questionnaire survey including measures of meaning in life (Purpose in Life Test) and psychological adjustment (Satisfaction with Life Scale, Subjective Happiness Scale, GHQ-12, and PANAS). Results indicated that practicing-believers reported, overall, higher levels of well-being, and lower levels of psychological symptoms and negative affect, compared with non-practicing believers. Non-practicing believers, in turn, presented better psychological adjustment, compared with non-believers. The relationships between religiousness and psychological adjustment was partially or fully mediated by scores of meaning in life, with practicing believers reporting highest levels. We conclude that perception of meaning and purpose in life is a key variable to understand the relationship between religion and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Social relationships supply purpose to life. How can socially disconnected people, who show lower levels of purpose, compensate for purpose in life? We propose that religious beliefs can compensate for the purpose in life that social relationships would otherwise provide, through providing (a) greater purpose to turn to and (b) divine figures that can substitute for social relationships.Method: In three studies, we analyze three nationally representative and longitudinal data sets (N = 19,775) using moderated regression and cross-lagged panel analyses.Results: Consistent with our hypotheses, religious beliefs were of minimal influence on purpose in life for socially connected individuals, who already held higher levels of purpose than socially disconnected individuals. However, for socially disconnected individuals, being highly religious predicted higher levels of purpose in life.Conclusions: Results suggest that although people primarily derive purpose from social relationships, socially disconnected individuals may leverage their religious beliefs for purpose and social comfort until they can reconnect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research note uses mixed methods on data from a nationwide sample of 1,525 Americans age 40 and older to make two theoretical contributions to the literatures on purpose and religion. First, by categorizing open‐ended responses to an item asking "Please describe a few of the things, feelings, ideas, etc. that give you a sense of purpose in your life," we present a categorization framework to group sources of purpose (SPs) in life. Next, we run multivariate models, using mental well‐being as a dependent measure, which simultaneously enter dummy variables reflecting each of the SPs categories within our framework. We hypothesize no relative differences in the effect that any specific source of purpose category would have on mental well‐being. This prediction is undercut by finding a positive link between mental well‐being and a single SP—citing one's "relationship with God"—although this relationship is noted only among respondents age 60 and older. Beyond this research's theoretical contributions, we offer some practical guidance in arguing that research on SPs, particularly when claiming comprehensiveness or examining mental well‐being, should not preclude religious measures and should consider that SPs may have differing effects between age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Programs focused on employee well-being have gained momentum in recent years, but few have been rigorously evaluated. This study evaluates the effectiveness of an intervention designed to enhance vitality and purpose in life by assessing changes in employee quality of life (QoL) and health-related behaviors.Design: A worksite-based randomized controlled trial.Setting: Twelve eligible worksites (8 randomized to the intervention group [IG] and 4 to the wait-listed control group [CG]).Participants: Employees (n = 240) at the randomized worksites.Intervention: A 2.5-day group-based behavioral intervention.Measures: Rand Medical Outcomes Survey (MOS) 36-item Short-Form (SF-36) vitality and QoL measures, Ryff Purpose in Life Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies questionnaire for depression, MOS sleep, body weight, physical activity, diet quality, and blood measures for glucose and lipids (which were used to calculate a cardiometabolic risk score) obtained at baseline and 6 months.Analysis: General linear mixed models were used to compare least squares means or prevalence differences in outcomes between IG and CG participants.Results: As compared to CG, IG had a significantly higher mean 6-month change on the SF-36 vitality scale ( P = .003) and scored in the highest categories for 5 of the remaining 7 SF-36 domains: general health ( P = .014), mental health ( P = .027), absence of role limitations due to physical problems ( P = .026), and social functioning ( P = .007). The IG also had greater improvements in purpose in life ( P < .001) and sleep quality (index I, P = .024; index II, P = .021). No statistically significant changes were observed for weight, diet, physical activity, or cardiometabolic risk factors.Conclusion: An intensive 2.5-day intervention showed improvement in employee QoL and well-being over 6 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Searching for the meaning of life is the basic motivation in human life, and lacking a sense of meaningfulness can lead to a range of disorders such as assuming the roles of victim and perpetrator of peer violence. Methods: This questionnaire-based study involved a total of 4,085 pupils (52% girls) from 70 middle schools located in all Polish voivodeships. The study used an abbreviated univariate version of the Purpose in Life Test scale, while two questions about peer violence were derived from the Polish version of the research protocol employed in the international study Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC). Both univariate and multivariate analyses - including logistic regression - were performed. Results: Out of 4,085 middle school pupils 26.8% were perpetrators and 29.8% were victims of peer violence at least once during the preceding 2 months. Boys were found to be both perpetrators and victims significantly more frequently than girls. Grade 3 pupils experienced violence from their peers significantly less frequently than grade 1 and grade 2 pupils. Regression analysis showed a significantly lower probability of being a victim or perpetrator of peer violence (at least 1-2 times during the 2 months preceding the questionnaire) in adolescents with a high sense of meaning in life. It was also found that girls were significantly less likely than boys to take on the roles of victims or perpetrators. The risk of being a victim of violence is also significantly decreased in middle school grade 3 pupils compared to grade 1 pupils. Conclusions: The potential practical implications of the analyses include the implementation of programmes aimed at highlighting universal and non-material values on which young people could rely. Based on the results of the study, it can be claimed that a high level of meaning in life is a factor protecting middle school adolescents from taking on the roles of both the victim and perpetrator of peer violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Having a sense of purpose in life has been consistently demonstrated as a predictor of positive health outcomes, including less perceived stress, yet, little is known about the role of sense of purpose on stressful days.Purpose: The current study investigated the sense of purpose as a moderator of stressor-related changes in daily physical symptoms, positive affect, and negative affect.Methods: A subset of the Midlife in the United States study (n = 1949, mage: 56.4 years) reported their sense of purpose, along with up to eight daily assessments of stressors, affect, and physical symptoms. Multilevel models evaluated whether sense of purpose was associated with deviations in affect or physical symptom reporting on days when participants reported a stressor versus days when stressors did not occur.Results: Sense of purpose was associated with higher daily positive affect, lower daily negative affect, and fewer daily physical symptoms. Compared with individuals who reported lower levels of purpose, those reporting higher levels encountered the same number of daily stressors, yet showed less of an increase in negative affect and physical symptoms on stressor days than on stressor-free days. Purpose did not predict changes in positive affect in response to daily stressors.Conclusions: Findings provide evidence that a purposeful life may be characterized by lower negative affect and physical symptom reporting on stressful days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiritual intelligence is a relatively new area of interest in the field of psychology. In addition to earlier concepts like IQ and EQ, SQ (Spiritual Quotient) is gaining popularity among behavioral researchers. SQ is an ability to see and evaluate one's life in terms of meaning and value. An unexamined life is not worth living said by Socrates. Spiritual intelligence is a quest for such an examination, a search for meaning and purpose in life. In the present paper researcher has tried to study relationship between spiritual intelligence, depression and anxiety among undergraduate college students. The results show that the students have low level of spiritual intelligence, low level of depression and low level of anxiety. Further, the results show that spiritual intelligence and depression have positive relationship whereas spiritual intelligence and anxiety have negative relationship. Relevant literature has been reviewed to understand the variables under consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this study was to replicate the Reker and Cousins’ (1979) work about the complementarity between the the Purpose-In-Life Test (PIL), which indicates the degree to which the person has found meaning and purpose in life (presence of meaning), and the Seeking of Noetic Goals (SONG), which measures the degree to which the person is motivated to find meaning and purpose in life (search for meaning). Participants were 349 Spanish undergraduates (224 women, 64.20 %, and 125 men, 35.80 %) between 18 and 26 years old, M = 20.81, SD = 2.17. Principal Component Analysis showed eight factors: four mainly related to the presence of meaning and four mainly related to the search for meaning. The PIL contributed four factors to presence of meaning, whereas the SONG contributed four factors to the search for meaning. The results confirmed the factorial structure, internal consistency, and validity of both scales and their complementarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feeling a sense of purpose in life appears to hold consistent benefits for positive aging and well-being. As such, it is important to consider the potential factors that promote or hinder the development of purposefulness over the lifespan. For instance, it remains unclear whether early life experiences, particularly adverse ones, may hold lasting influences on whether one feels purposeful into adulthood. The current study examined whether early life adversity predicted a diminished sense of purpose in adulthood using data from participants (N = 3835) in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Reports of early life adversity were associated with lower levels of purpose in adulthood, and chronological age failed to moderate this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cauriensia: Revista Anual de Ciencias Eclesiásticas is the property of Instituto Teologico San Pedro de Alcantara de Caceres 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.)

This article examines Iranian secondary students’ (N = 336) life purposes. Economic and hedonistic life goals were the most valued. Relationships in terms of having a family and children were also appreciated. In the students’ views, religiousness was associated with social goals such as helping others in need and volunteering in the community. Gender differences in students’ life goals occurred only in aesthetic goals, which applied more to girls than to boys. K-Cluster analysis identified four purpose profiles: self-oriented dabblers, beyond-the-self (BTS) dreamers, self-oriented life goal pursuers and purposeful youth. The dominant profile among the youth was self-oriented life goal pursuer (37%). The study validated Damon’s conceptual work on purpose profiles in a previously unstudied cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

"Arts have a great role in helping us reaching and exploring parts of ourselves that are often inaccessible to other systems of human interaction. It travels below the radar, bringing sustenance for our personalities and coming up with tales from the inner most self. A creation deprived of art is an insensitive world, producing and imbibing arts boost our spirits and retains us well-balanced. Creative work, like science and religion, benefits us by making most of our lives, leaving us feeling us feel better." Artist "In each phase, the arts have encouraged individuals and provided them solace. Professor Lord Layard. Present study focuses on an optimal experience and psychological well-being of Musicians and Theatre artists. The aim of present investigation is to know the significant difference between Musicians and Theatre artists. The primary data was collected from respondents by administering Flow Short Scale (Rheinberg, Vollmever, & Engeser, 2008) and Psychological well-being scale (Ryff, 1989) on Professional Musicians and Theatre artists. The outcomes revealed that there is very high significant difference between Musicians and theatre artists on their challenge-skill balance. There exists significantly very high positive correlation between Flow and Purpose in life and Self-acceptance. Finally, There is significantly very high positive correlation between Challenge-skill Balance and Purpose in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years several papers have examined the structure of the Purpose-In-Life Test, which measures the achievement of meaning in life from the approach of logotherapy, having found heterogeneous results. The aim of this study was to test different models proposed in previous literature with a sample of 766 Spanish undergraduates (220 males, 546 females) from two universities of the Valencia Community (Spain), aged between 18 and 36 (M = 21.96; SD = 3.56). Confirmatory factor analysis of these models was conducted. The adjustment values and the factorial structures obtained were compared, finding empirical support for three bi-factorial models.

One developmental task in emerging adulthood is finding meaning and purpose in life. Volunteering has been touted as one role that fosters purpose in life. We examined whether the association between frequency of volunteering and purpose in life varies with pleasure-based prosocial motivation and pressure-based prosocial motivation in a sample of 576 undergraduates, ages 18–22 years old. In a regression analysis predicting purpose in life, the frequency of volunteering by pleasure-based prosocial motivation by pressure-based prosocial motivation interaction effect was significant (p = .042). Simple slopes analyses revealed that frequency of volunteering was not significantly (p = .478) related to purpose in life among college students who were low in both pleasure-based and pressure-based prosocial motivation. The findings of the present study highlight the importance of prosocial motivation for understanding whether emerging adults’ purpose in life will be enhanced by volunteering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The linkage between religion and purpose in life is a matter of theoretical interest within the two fields of empirical theology and psychology of religion. Empirical evidence for this linkage remains vulnerable according to the measures of religion and purpose in life employed. Conceptually prayer provides an interesting test of this linkage in light of both the personal nature of this religious activity and of the persistence of prayer among individuals who do not attend worship services. This study draws on data provided by 10,792 13- to 15-year-old students from five different parts of the UK (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and London) to test the connection between prayer and purpose-in-life (assessed by an established single-item measure) after taking into account personal differences (age and sex), psychological differences (Eysenck’s three dimensional model of personality), and religious differences (affiliation, and worship attendance). The data demonstrate that prayer frequency adds additional prediction of enhanced levels of purpose in life among young people after taking all other variables into account, and that prayer frequency is a stronger predictor of purpose in life than religious affiliation or worship attendance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined the degree of relationships between Alcohol and Purpose in Life among adolescents in Senior High Schools in Ghana. A sample of 244 students made up of 40.5% males (N= 98) and 59.5% females (N=144) completed demographic questionnaires, the Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Involvement Scale (AADIS) and Purpose in Life test (PIL). The mean age was 18.4 years. Pearson product moment correlation coefficients were performed to determine the relationship between AADIS and PIL and tested at 0.05 alpha level. The results of the analysis of the sample indicate that a significant negative correlation was found between AADIS and PIL, r (242) = -.296, p < .001. This result depicts anegative linear relationship of scores, where the low scores on the AADIS relate to high scores on the PIL test. As one's Alcohol usage decreases, meaningfutness gradually became more salient, and purpose in life is high. The results of the study suggest that health education that provides adolescents opportunities for growth and exploration may be useful tool in the prevention of alcohol use among senior high students in Ghana. It is therefore recommended that drug and alcohol education should be included in the senior high school curriculum to help in Ghana's educational sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a sample of 97,739 individuals across 94 countries, this study sought to examine whether religiosity and purpose in life moderate the relationship between income satisfaction and life satisfaction. The results of multilevel modeling showed that whereas religiosity was not a significant moderator of this relationship, purpose significantly moderated the relationship between income satisfaction and life satisfaction. The positive relationship between the two variables was weaker among people with a purpose in life than those without it. People who believe their lives have meaning or purpose are likely to deemphasize the role of materialistic aspirations, focus more on intrinsic pursuits, and have more mental resources to cope with financial challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has demonstrated the importance of having a purpose in older adulthood; however, little is known about whether and how individuals vary on sense of purpose over time. The current study examined patterns of mean- and individual-level change in purpose among men in the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study (n = 587, Mage = 74 years) across a 3-year span. Findings demonstrate that while little mean-level change was present, there was interindividual variability in change. Further research is needed to understand why these changes occur, as age, health status, and personality failed to predict individual fluctuations in purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation (totalN = 643) sought to examine for the first time self-discrepancy theory in relation to purpose in life. Negative associations were found between purpose and discrepancies in perceptions of one's actual and ideal personality (Study 1) and body image (Study 2). Study 3 further demonstrated experimentally that individuals describing differences between their actual and ideal physique reported less purpose than those describing similarities. Finally, Study 4 sought to compare the effects of actual/ideal and actual/ought self-discrepancies on purpose in life. Participants who wrote about differences between their actual/ideal or actual/ought selves subsequently reported less purpose than those who wrote about similarities between these domains. However, neither a main effect nor an interaction emerged between actual/ideal versus actual/ought conditions, thereby suggesting that greater discrepancy denigrated purpose independent of self-domain. Importantly, agency emerged as a mechanism explaining the association between both actual/ideal and actual/ought discrepancies and purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Setting and pursuing personal goals is a vital aspect of our identity and purpose in life. Cancer can put pressure on these goals and may be a reason for people to adjust them. Therefore, this paper investigates (1) changes in cancer patients' goals over time and (2) the extent to which illness characteristics relate to goal changes. Methods: At both assessment points (1 and 7 months post-diagnosis), colorectal cancer patients ( n = 198) were asked to list their current goals and rate them on hindrance of illness, attainability, likelihood of success, temporal range and importance. All goals were coded by two independent raters on content (i.e. physical, psychological, social, achievement and leisure). Patients' medical data were obtained from the national cancer registry. Results: Over time, patients reported a decrease in illness-related hindrance, higher attainability and likelihood of success, a decrease in total number of goals, goals with a shorter temporal range, and more physical and fewer social goals. At both assessments, patients with more advanced stages of cancer, rectal cancer, a stoma, and receiving additional chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy reported more illness-related hindrance in goal attainment, but only patients with a stoma additionally reported lower attainability, likelihood of success and more short-term goals. Conclusions: The results of this study support the assumption that cancer patients adjust their goals to changing circumstances and additionally show how patients adjust their goals to their illness. Moreover, we demonstrate that illness variables impact on goal change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the relationship between religious orientation and Meaning in Life, in a sample of 180 Spanish undergraduates (age range 18-55, M = 22.91, SD = 6.71), measured by means of both Spanish versions of the Religious Orientation Scale and the Purpose-In-Life Test, respectively. The starting point is the Batson and Ventis' conception that the Quest orientation is mature and flexible, but the Intrinsic orientation is dogmatic and uncritical. If it is so, the Quest orientation should be related more positively to meaning in life. Our results indicate that the Intrinsic orientation, but not Quest, explains a higher percentage of the variance of the Meaning in Life, confirming the results obtained in previous research. Batson and Ventis' approach is questioned, and it raises the possibility that intrinsic religious convictions are a source of meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study was to examine the factorial structure and the internal consistency of a Spanish version of Purpose-In-Life Test, which measures the achievement of meaning in life from logotherapy assumptions. Participated 457 Spanish undergraduates (320 females, 137 males) ages 18 to 55 M = 21.8, SD = 4.56. Estatistical analysis included the descriptive statistics and the correlations of initial scale, an exploratory factor analysis, the internal consistency of the scale and the factors resulting from the factor analysis, a confirmatory factor analysis of resulting scale, and the analysis of the effect due to the gender and the age. Results of exploratory factor analysis showed two correlated factors with acceptable internal consistency, significant differences between women and men in the total score and one of the factors, but not significant depending on the age. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a proper adjustment, supporting the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Despite a growing body of research on resilience and its clinical significance in depression and anxiety disorders, relatively little is known about contributing factors for resilience in patients with these illnesses. We aimed to find characteristics of patients having low resilience for elucidating its clinical implications in depression and/or anxiety disorders, primarily focused on potentially modifiable variables. Methods: A total of 121 outpatients diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety disorders completed questionnaires measuring socio-demographic, clinical, and positive psychological factors. We divided patients into the three groups based on their Connor-Davidson resilience scale scores and investigated predictors of the low- and medium- versus high-resilience groups using multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results: In the final regression model, low spirituality was revealed as a leading predictor of lower-resilience groups. Additionally, low purpose in life and less frequent exercise were associated with the low- and medium-resilience groups, respectively. Severe trait anxiety characterized the low- and medium-resilience groups, although it was not included in the final model. Conclusions: Spirituality, purpose in life, and trait anxiety contribute to different levels of resilience in patients with depression and/or anxiety disorders. Our results would deepen the understanding of resilience and provide potential targets of resilience-focused intervention in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Interest in evaluating purpose in life as an important component of ageing well is growing; however, investigation into the appropriate measurement of this construct is required. The purpose of this paper was to examine the measurement properties of the Life Engagement Test (LET) and to provide normative data for a non-clinical sample of community-dwelling older adults. Methods: A random sample of 545 adults, aged 55-94 years, completed the LET twice over a 12-month period as part of a larger survey on relocation in later life. Results: Consistent with previous research, participants typically reported high levels of purpose in life. Scores were also observed to vary over the 12-month duration, with, on average, an increase in purpose in life at Time 2. However, tests of longitudinal invariance were inconclusive. Conclusions: Future research is needed to further examine the content validity of the LET, and its factorial invariance over longer measurement intervals, and across different populations including non-residential/aged care settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study evaluated the efficacy of a sense of meaning intervention with a sample of higher education managers. Participants were 14 members of the campus management committee of a university of technology in South Africa (age range = 32 to 64 years, females = 36%, majority ethnicity = 50% White). Data on their sense of meaning with intervention were collected using the Purpose in Life Test (PIL) and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). In addition, qualitative data were collected on the participants' subjective experience of development in creative potential. A one group pretest-posttest design employed. The quantitative data were analysed using t-tests for paired samples. The qualitative were analysed by means of themes. A sense of meaning intervention appears to result in significant improvement in levels of work related meaning and job satisfaction among higher education managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The first instruments developed to evaluate specific logotherapeutic dimensions were the Purpose In Life (PIL) and the Seeking Of Noetic Goals (SONG) tests, designed to reflect Frankl's concepts of, respectively, meaning in life attainment and will to meaning. This study aims to perform the Italian cultural adaptation and the psychometric validation of the PIL and SONG questionnaires. Methods: We administered the PIL and SONG, culturally adapted into the Italian language, to 266 cancer patients. The psychometric validation appraised construct validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, known-group validity, and convergent validity of the two questionnaires with respect to one another. Results: The factorial analysis indicates that the original single-factor solution can be maintained for both instruments (proportion of variance explained by the first factor 77% and 71% for the PIL and SONG, respectively). The results show excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha of 0.91 for the PIL and 0.90 for the SONG) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.92 for the PIL and 0.81 for the SONG). As expected, males, believers, patients nearer to the diagnosis, and patients not undergoing psychological therapy have higher PIL and lower SONG scores, while expectations for age were not confirmed. The average level for the PIL was 107.3, while for the SONG, it was 66.1, and a negative correlation (−0.47) between PIL and SONG scores indicates good convergent validity of the two instruments. Conclusion: Italian versions of the PIL and SONG are adequate and reliable self-report instruments for evaluating purpose in life and the motivation to find purpose for cancer patient populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the differences on Purpose-In-Life Test [PIL] (Crumbaugh & Maholic, 1969) total and factorial scores associated to sex, among 309 spanish undergratudates (207 women, 102 men), range 18 to 45 years. PIL Spanish version is used (Noblejas de la Flor, 1994). PIL evalues life meaning achievement vs. existential vacuum. Women achieve higher means on PIL total and factorial scores, and estatistical analysis show that sex is significantly associated to total PIL score and on Purpose perception and Goals and tasks factors scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to describe the utility of the Purpose-in-Life Test among persons with AIDS using both Part A (quantitative) and Part B (qualitative). A cross-sectional descriptive design was used with a sample of 74 persons with AIDS from community settings. The Purpose-in-Life Test and a sociodemographic questionnaire were administered. Analytic methods included descriptive and inferential statistics and content analysis. Part A scores indicated that only one third of the participants reported a definite purpose in life; however, results from Part B demonstrated that the majority of participants viewed their life as meaningful and dynamic. Demographic characteristics such as race, income, and education were significantly related to purpose in life. Assessing purpose in life using both Part A and Part B of the Purpose-in-Life Test may assist nurses with a more in-depth understanding of purpose in life and assist persons with AIDS with identifying opportunities for personal growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The contribution of psychological factors to brain health and resilience remains poorly investigated. Furthermore, their possible interaction with 'classical' cognitive reserve (CR) estimates in predicting perceived mental health and cognitive status has not been specifically addressed. Methods: We obtained data from 1081 adults responding to questionnaires on the three meaning in life (MiL) dimensions: purpose in life (PiL), sense of coherence (SoC), and engagement with life (EwL). A questionnaire on CR variables was also administered. The outcome measures were self-reported cognitive function and affective status (depression, stress, and anxiety). Multiple linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between sociodemographic variables, MiL dimensions, and CR with the two selected outcomes. Mediation analyses, adjusted for age and gender, were applied to determine whether the MiL dimensions mediated the putative effects of CR on self-reported mental and cognitive health. Results: All three MiL components, but not CR estimates, correlated with the self-reported affective status of the participants. Higher CR, PiL, and SoC (but not EwL) scores significantly correlated with higher perceived cognitive function. Notably, the observed association between the CR measures and self-reported cognitive function was mediated by PiL and SoC. Conclusions: Psychological MiL dimensions mediate the association between classic CR estimates and self-perceived cognitive function. Further studies on CR could consider including formal measures of such psychological factors to better understand their unique or synergistic contributions, as well as investigate the associated mechanisms maintaining brain function at older ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]