Is Positive Affect Related to Meaning in Life Differently in Younger and Older Adults? A Time Sampling Study

Chu, Steven Tsun-Wai; Fung, Helene H.; Chu, Li

doi:10.1093/geronb/gbz086

Cited by 20 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…A substantial overlap between situational pleasure and meaning was indicated by the positive correlation (r = 0.44) between state pleasantness and state meaningfulness. This result fits in with previous research on the close connection between positive feelings and meaning ( King et al, 2006 ; Hicks et al, 2012 ; Tov and Lee, 2016 ; Chu et al, 2020 ; Miao and Gan, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Have a good day! An experience-sampling study of daily meaningful and pleasant activities

Kreiss

Schnell²

2022

Front. Psychol.

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We organize our daily lives with a relatively high degree of freedom. Some things must be done; others are optional. Some we find meaningful, some pleasant, some both, and some neither. The present study looks at such evaluations of daily activities and how they relate to perceived meaning in life. Sixty-two students from an Austrian university first completed the meaningfulness scale from the Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe). They then participated in a 1-week experience-sampling assessment, wherein they completed a short questionnaire at five random time-points per day. They indicated their current activity and then reported, on a 6-point Likert scale, how pleasant and meaningful they perceived it to be. Activities could thus be categorized as meaningful, pleasant, both, or neither. Results reflected that activities grouped under culture/music, communication, intimacy, and sports are experienced as both highly meaningful and pleasant. A two-level hierarchical linear regression suggested that people with high trait meaningfulness experience their daily activities as more meaningful than people with lower trait meaningfulness if they also enjoy what they are doing. People with low trait meaningfulness, however, tended to experience their daily activities as rather meaningless, even if they enjoyed them very much. Thus, when looking for advice on how to have a good day, clarifying one’s meaning in life seems to represent the best starting point.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Have a good day! An experience-sampling study of daily meaningful and pleasant activities

Kreiss

Schnell²

2022

Front. Psychol.

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“…In summary, emotion regulation strategies, such as the cognitive reappraisal ones, play a valuable role in promoting human high-level emotions, such as subjective wellbeing. Simultaneously, gratitude and subjective wellbeing, as positive emotions, can help the individual’s coping style and the perception of the life meaning ( King and Hicks, 2006 ; Chu et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotion Regulation Strategies and Sense of Life Meaning: The Chain-Mediating Role of Gratitude and Subjective Wellbeing

Lin

2022

Front. Psychol.

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This study aimed to explore the mechanism of college students’ meaning of life. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Gratitude Questionnaire Six-Item Form, the General Wellbeing Schedule, the Meaning in Life Questionnaire were used as measurement instruments. In total, 1,312 valid responses were obtained. The results showed that the cognitive reappraisal and expression suppression strategies were significantly positively and negatively correlated with gratitude, subjective wellbeing, and the sense of life meaning, respectively. Further, Emotion regulation strategies can affect college students’ sense of life meaning through three paths: the mediating effect of gratitude; the mediating effect of subjective wellbeing; the chain mediating effect of gratitude and subjective wellbeing. This study illuminated the roles of gratitude, and subjective wellbeing in influencing the sense of life meaning among the Chinese college students. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

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“…Ward and King (33) found that income was also positively associated with meaning in life especially in people of low positive affect. Positive affect has been shown to be one of the most critical antecedents to meaning in life (3,34,35). Positive affect and life satisfaction are main components constituting people's subjective well-being (15).…”

Section: A Hypothesized Serial Double Mediation Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Materialistic happiness menaces people’s meaning in life: A serial double mediation model reflecting the roles of basic psychological needs satisfaction and subjective well-being

Cheung

Lai

2022

Preprint

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Background: People are holding stronger materialistic belief than before, especially in some developed regions in the world. Materialism refers to beliefs that equate materialistic possessions with happiness, success, and make it central to life. Extant research has widely shown that materialism threatens people’s well-being. Nevertheless, the evidence on how materialism influences meaning in life is less well-established. Within the realm of this area, we examined the relationship between materialism and meaning in life, as well as its potential mechanisms, under the framework of Self-Determination Theory.Methods: Two cross-sectional online survey studies have been conducted to test the hypothesized serial double mediation model. In this model, we measured four constructs including people’s materialistic values, basic psychological needs satisfaction, subjective well-being, and meaning in life. In Study 1, we collected data from a Chinese sample (N=190). In Study 2, we tried to replicate the findings from Study 1 by collecting a non-Chinese different-age Prolific sample (N=767).Results: The results from Study 1 and Study 2 are consistent. We found that the relationship between materialistic happiness and meaning in life is serially mediated by basic psychological needs satisfaction and subjective well-being. The results confirm that materialistic happiness frustrates basic psychological needs, which threatens people’s subjective well-being then meaning in life. Nonetheless, same serial multiple mediation model is not observed from other two materialistic dimensions including materialistic centrality and materialistic success.Conclusions: Materialistic happiness threatens people’s sense of meaning in life. This relationship can be explained under the framework of Self-Determination Theory. Issues such as how different types of happiness facilitate the constitution of meaning in life, and new investigation directions on materialism and meaning in life research have been discussed.

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Is Positive Affect Related to Meaning in Life Differently in Younger and Older Adults? A Time Sampling Study

Cited by 20 publications

References 43 publications

Have a good day! An experience-sampling study of daily meaningful and pleasant activities

Have a good day! An experience-sampling study of daily meaningful and pleasant activities

Emotion Regulation Strategies and Sense of Life Meaning: The Chain-Mediating Role of Gratitude and Subjective Wellbeing

Materialistic happiness menaces people’s meaning in life: A serial double mediation model reflecting the roles of basic psychological needs satisfaction and subjective well-being

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