A Longitudinal Examination of the Association Between Meaning in Life, Resilience, and Mental Well-Being in Times of Coronavirus Pandemic

Abstract

The coronavirus disease possesses an important threat to people's health and well-being. The purpose of the present study is to longitudinally examine whether meaning in life before the pandemic increases resilience and mental well-being during the coronavirus pandemic. The sample of the study comprised 172 young adults (72% women) in a public university in an urban city of Turkey. Participants ranged in age between 18 and 40 years (M = 20.87, SD = 3.92). Mediation analyses were performed to examine the impacts of meaning in life on the outcomes across the two waves of data. Findings from these analyses revealed that meaning in life before the pandemic had a significant predictive effect on resilience and mental well-being of young adults during the coronavirus disease. Resilience also mediated the impacts of meaning in life on mental well-being indicators at the second time. These results suggest the importance of meaning-based preventions and interventions designed to build up resilience experiences for improving psychological health and well-being during a public health crisis.

Understanding the Mental Health Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Railway Workers

“…While a broad range of mechanisms for protecting mental health and well-being have been studied across occupational groups, the concept of resilience has been well established as an important protective factor for mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. 29,88 The concept of resilience can be defined as an ability to adapt and rebound from negative events 89,90 and has repeatedly been highly correlated with higher scores on mental well-being in general population samples 40,[91][92][93][94] and keyworker occupations. 26,43,[95][96][97][98][99][100] Resilience is one of the core constructs of positive organizational behavior [101][102][103] and may help in mediating the relationship between stress and burnout both pre-COVID 104 and during the course of this pandemic.…”

The relationships of preventive behaviors and psychological resilience with depression, anxiety, and stress among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A two-wave longitudinal study in Shandong Province, China

“…A study of young adults in Turkey during COVID-19 showed that resilience mediated the effect of finding meaning in life on young people's psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing. Therefore, resilience might modify the adverse effect of the coronavirus pandemic on young people's mental wellbeing ( 26 ). A study of Korean adults by Kim et al showed that individual resilience had an effect on mental health after the COVID-19 outbreak ( 27 ).…”

Meaninglessness and monotony in pandemic boredom

“… 3 See (Arslan & Yıldırım, 2021 ; de Jong et al, 2020 ; Milman et al, 2020 ; Salicru, 2021 ; Trzebiński et al, 2020 ). …”

“…See(Danckert & Eastwood, 2020). 3 See(Arslan & Yıldırım, 2021;de Jong et al, 2020;Milman et al, 2020;Salicru, 2021;Trzebiński et al, 2020).4 See(Droit-Volet et al, 2020;Grondin et al, 2020;Grove et al, 2022;Holman & Grisham, 2020;Irons, 2020;Linker, 2020;Ogden, 2020;Pardes, 2020;Schnalzer, 2020; van der Werff, 2020;Virna & Brahina, 2020;Wessels et al, 2022;Wittmann, 2020). 5 I will use the term 'pandemic boredom' to refer to the experiences of boredom that have occurred as a result of, or during, the Covid-19 pandemic.6 Within the expanding field of boredom studies, psychologists in particular have emphasised the distinctive importance of pandemic boredom as giving insight into the distinction between trait and state boredom, the role of emotional regulation and well-being, and whether or not there is a correlation between boredom proneness and adherence to social distancing measures.…”