Patterns of Spirituality and Meaning in Life Related to Identity

Abstract

Undergraduate students (N = 270; 71.1% women) completed self-report measures of identity styles (informational, normative, and diffuse-avoidant), identity commitment, identity distress, the search for meaning in life, the presence of meaning in life, and expressions of spirituality (cognitive orientation to spirituality, experiential/phenomenological dimension, existential well-being, paranormal beliefs, and religiousness). The informational and normative styles were positively associated with identity commitment, the presence of meaning in life, cognitive orientation to spirituality, and religiousness. The informational style was also positively associated with the experiential/phenomenological dimension of spirituality and the search for meaning in life, and the normative identity style was also positively related to existential well-being. The diffuse-avoidant style was negatively associated with identity commitment, the presence of meaning in life, and existential well-being, and was positively associated with identity distress and the search for meaning in life. In a factor analysis, these latter two variables loaded together as a single factor that can be characterized as existential search and distress.

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