Engaging in personally meaningful activities is associated with meaning salience and psychological well-being

Hooker, Stephanie Ann; Masters, Kevin S.; Vagnini, Kaitlyn M.; Rush, Christina L.

doi:10.1080/17439760.2019.1651895

Cited by 64 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 40 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Research on meaning salience has just now begun to explore the benefits of a momentary awareness of one's meaning Hooker, Masters, et al, 2020a). Despite theorizing about both the physical and psychological benefits of meaning salience, research has yet to examine how a daily awareness of meaning can affect mental health.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meaning salience is defined as an awareness of the meaning in one's life (Hooker, Post, & Sherman, 2020b). Preliminary findings suggest that bringing awareness to one's meaning in life can directly impact perceptions of quality of life (Hooker, Masters, Vagnini, & Rush, 2020a), and self-esteem (Taubman-Ben-Ari, 2011). Increased meaning salience also relates to increased motivation for participation in physical activity and decreased sensations of burnout and fatigue in doctors (Hooker, Post, & Sherman, 2020b).…”

Section: Meaning Saliencementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Mental health in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal examination of the ameliorating effect of meaning salience

Klussman¹,

Nichols²,

Langer³

2021

Curr Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During the COVID-19 pandemic, various restrictions forced people around the world to socially isolate. People were asked to stay at home and were largely unable to do many of the activities that they derived meaning from. Since meaning is often related to mental health, these restrictions were likely to decrease mental health. The current study aimed to examine these effects and additionally benefit individuals' mental health by making their meaning salient. Specifically, the goal of the research was to design an intervention that could counter the potential negative effects of social distancing. We recruited a total of 96 U.S.A. residents (M age = 34.45, 92.7% Female) and assigned them to either the control group or to a meaning salience intervention. That is, participants either focused on the meaning of their daily activities (n = 45) or did not participate in any study-related activities during the week (n = 51). They completed various measures of mental health before and after this experimental period. Results suggested that the control group reported significantly greater anxiety, depression, and stress at the end of the week. In contrast, the experimental group reported less anxiety and trended toward less depression and stress at the end of that same week. In all, results suggest that simply focusing on one's daily activities and the meaning found in them protected people from the otherwise detrimental effects of the restrictions. This provides a promising and simple intervention that may assist both individuals and practitioners aiming to improve mental health, especially in challenging times.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Meaning Saliencementioning

confidence: 99%

Mental health in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal examination of the ameliorating effect of meaning salience

Klussman¹,

Nichols²,

Langer³

2021

Curr Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition to this if the role is of high quality, individuals have also reported additive effects on happiness, satisfaction with life, and quality of life (Rice, Frone, & Mc Farlin, 1992). One can also argue that by participating in multiple roles, an individual is engaging in multiple meaningful activities to perform these roles which can have a positive effect on the overall well-being of that individual (Hooker et al, 2020). Based on these findings it is suggested that when individuals particularly feel that their work has helped them achieve their family objectives due to the positive spillover of resources from work to family as suggested by spillover theory (Staines, 1980), they feel that their family lives have been enriched which makes work seem more meaningful and purposeful thereby enhancing their psychological well-being.…”

Section: R M B Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Relationship between Work-family Enrichment and Psychological Well-being: The Mediating Role of Meaningful Work.

Sarwat¹,

Hussain²,

Khan³

2021

IRMBR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Competitive pressures and dynamic workplaces have presented individuals with numerous challenges at the work place. Work seems more like a necessity and lacks passion and purpose and meaning. Moreover, unemployment rates in developing countries force individuals to take up work in which they are not even interested. The present study investigated the effect of work to family enrichment (WFE) on psychological well-being of individuals through the mediating role of meaningful work based on the assumptions of spillover theory. Resources acquired at work enrich individual’s family life which make work look more meaningful and in turn has positive consequences for psychological health of an individual. The unit of analysis for this study was individuals working in various banks of Pakistan. Data were collected from 215 full time bankers working in public and private banks of Pakistan. Banking industry was chosen in part due to its complex nature and further because of the lucrative incentives and training and development it offers to individuals working for these banks. Data were analyzed using model 4 given in PROCESS MACRO based on bootstrapping which is considered one of the best techniques for mediation analysis. Results supported all the hypotheses of this study. Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that work should be designed in such a way that it enriches the family life of individuals, this creates a purpose and meaning in work and has positive consequences for the psychological health of individuals. Keywords: Work-Family Enrichment, Meaningful Work, Psychological Well-Being, Spillover Theory.

show abstract

“…At the same time, this result indicates that it is important to "promote targeted interventions considering all the factors personal and psychological resources, reducing environmental barriers, and creating access to outside home activities" (Fekete et al, 2019, p. 7). Other results provide evidence of the direct impact of being engaged in meaningful activities on psychological wellbeing (Hooker et al, 2019). In this sense, it is relevant to identify the evidence that guarantees well-being to give people the opportunity to apply that particular evidence to promote better physical and mental health.…”

Section: Psychological Research On Health and Well-being In Line Withmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Impact of Psychological Research on Well-Being Shared in Social Media

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the Social Impact in Social Media (SISM, hereinafter) methodology applied in psychological research provides evidence for the visibility of the social impact of the research. This article helps researchers become aware of whether and how their improvements are capturing the interest of citizens and how citizens are applying such evidence and obtaining better outcomes, in this case, in relation to well-being. In addition, citizens can access the latest evidence on social media and act as channels of communication between science and social or personal networks and, in doing so, they can improve the living conditions of others. This methodology is also useful for agencies that support researchers in psychology with financial assistance, which can use it to evaluate the social impact of the funds that they invest in research. In this article, the 10 studies on well-being were selected for analysis using the following criteria: their research results led to demonstrable improvement in well-being, and these improvements are presented on social media. We applied the social impact coverage ratio to identify the percentage of the social impact shared in social media in relation to the total amount of social media data collected. Finally, examples of quantitative and qualitative evidence of the social impact of the research on well-being are presented.

show abstract

Engaging in personally meaningful activities is associated with meaning salience and psychological well-being

Cited by 64 publications

References 40 publications

Mental health in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal examination of the ameliorating effect of meaning salience

Mental health in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal examination of the ameliorating effect of meaning salience

Investigating the Relationship between Work-family Enrichment and Psychological Well-being: The Mediating Role of Meaningful Work.

Social Impact of Psychological Research on Well-Being Shared in Social Media

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About