Agentic meaning-making: Free will beliefs, sense-making, and psychological distress following collective traumas

Meaning-making is an important component in the psychological recovery from collective traumas. However, not enough is known about what individual differences might facilitate meaning-oriented approaches to coping and recovering from traumas. We predicted that free will beliefs, which afford people the perception of volitional autonomy over their actions, would be an important antecedent to sense-making and meaning-focused coping. We tested this conceptual hypothesis in the context of two distinct collective traumas. In Study 1 (n = 342), the comprehension facet of meaning in life (which is the facet most related to sense-making) mediated the relationship between free will beliefs and lower psychological distress related to the COVID-19 global pandemic. In Study 2 (n = 571), meaning-focused coping, but not other coping styles, mediated the relationship between free will beliefs and psychological recovery (i.e., lower distress over time) in a longitudinal sample collected in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. We interpreted our findings as robust support for our hypothesis, the strength of which is bolstered by the distinct settings and methodologies with which the data were collected. We conclude by discussing our results in relation to the view that free will beliefs afford a more agentic approach to meaning-making, which ultimately facilities more effective psychological recovery from collective trauma.