Self-concept Clarity and Meaning in Life: A Daily Diary Study in a Collectivistic Culture

Abstract

Despite the theoretical significance of self-concept clarity in meaning in life in Western thinking, there has been limited empirical investigation in collectivistic cultures. Consequently, the mechanism and boundary conditions of this effect remain unknown in such cultural contexts. To address this gap, we employed a daily-diary method spanning a period of 10 days, which allowed us to examine both the between-person and within-person effects of self-concept clarity on meaning in life, as well as the mediating role of three precursors of meaning (i.e., coherence, purpose, and significance), and the moderating role of independent self-construal among 83 Chinese participants. Multilevel regressions analyses demonstrated that individuals with higher trait self-concept clarity perceived higher meaning in their daily lives (b = 0.28, SE = 0.08, p = .001); and on days when individuals experienced higher daily self-concept clarity than typical, their sense of meaning on that day also tended to be higher (b = 0.39, SE = 0.04, p < .001). Multilevel mediation models showed that at the between-person level, trait self-concept clarity predicted daily meaning through the mediation of significance only (b = 0.15, SE = 0.05, p = .002), while at the within-person level, daily self-concept clarity predicted daily meaning through all three precursors (0.03 < bs < 0.13, ps < .05). The effect of both trait and daily self-concept clarity were stronger among those with a low (vs. high) independent self-construal. Finally, there was a positive lagged effect of daily self-concept clarity on daily meaning (β = 0.12, SE = 0.05, p = .014). These findings highlight the importance of cultivating a clear self-concept for experiencing meaning in daily life, particularly for those with a low independent self-construal in a collectivistic culture.