Meaning in life and psychological well-being among high school freshmen and seniors.

摘要

High school freshmen and seniors in Henry County, Georgia were surveyed using the Purpose in Life Test, the Life Regard Index, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale in order to examine the relationship between meaning in life and well-being within and between these two groups. Additionally, this study examined the effect of three demographic variables upon this relationship; gender, ethnicity, and religious/spiritual orientation.;Results of descriptive and inferential statistical analyses performed indicate a strong, positive, highly significant relationship exists between the meaning in life and well-being variables among high school freshmen and seniors. Higher levels of meaning in life tend to be strongly associated with higher levels of well-being for both freshmen and seniors, and this relationship tends to be slightly stronger among freshmen than seniors.;Further, on the average, the seniors in this sample scored higher on the measures of meaning in life and well being than did the freshmen. Results of the canonical correlation revealed that, within the freshman class, non-religious/non-spiritually oriented males tend to have lower Life Regard Index and Purpose in Life Test scores. Finally, partial correlations indicate that among the seniors, gender and ethnicity have a slight mediating effect upon the meaning in life/well-being relationship. However, the discriminant function analysis with the meaning in life and well-being variables as the predictors of group membership (freshman vs. senior), produced an insignificant discriminant function. This suggests that freshmen and seniors cannot be reliably grouped based on combined levels of meaning in life and well-being.