Year: 2022
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Meaning in life may function as a protective factor in the context of potentially traumatic experiences, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated the associations between meaning and psychological distress (i.e., depression, anxiety, COVID-19-related PTSD) prospectively and cross-sectionally. We hypothesized that meaning inversely predicts peri-pandemic distress and that meaning moderates the association between being negatively affected by the pandemic and distress. We additionally explored cross-sectional associations between meaning subcomponents and distress and a meaning violations perspective. METHODS: = 109) completed questionnaires before (October 2019 to March 2020; meaning, anxiety) and during the pandemic (April to June 2020; meaning, meaning subcomponents, depression, anxiety, PTSD). RESULTS: Correcting for family-wise errors, meaning prospectively predicted less depression and anxiety, but not PTSD. Correcting for family-wise errors, peri-pandemic meaning was consistently related with peri-pandemic distress. Meaning did not moderate the link between being affected by the pandemic and distress. The meaning subcomponent comprehension was most strongly related with distress and a meaning violations perspective was partly supported. CONCLUSION: Meaning emerged as a significant correlate of peri-pandemic distress. Current findings should be replicated longitudinally and experimentally to establish their robustness and to examine the causal influence of meaning on distress.
Source: Anxiety Stress & Coping
Institution: University of Groningen
Language: English
Topic: COVID-19 and Mental Health
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4294670032