Meaning in Life and Its Relationship With Physical, Mental, and Cognitive Functioning

Awais Aftab · Ellen Lee · Federica Klaus · Rebecca Daly · Tsung‐Chin Wu · Xin Ming Tu +2 more

74 citations0/0 files storedThe Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Aging and Gerontology Research Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship of presence and search for meaning in life with age, physical and mental well-being, and cognitive functioning across the adult lifespan. METHODS: Cross-sectional data from 1,042 adults in the Successful AGing Evaluation (SAGE)-a multicohort study of adult community-dwelling residents of San Diego County, California-were analyzed. Presence of meaning ("Presence") and search for meaning in life ("Search") were assessed with the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Physical and mental well-being were measured using the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36). Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status-modified was employed to screen for overall cognitive function. Study data were collected from January 2013 to June 2014. RESULTS: Presence of meaning exhibited an inverted U-shaped relationship whereas Search showed a U-shaped relationship with age (with Presence peaking and Search reaching the lowest point around age 60). Statistical modeling using generalized estimating equations revealed that physical well-being (SF-36 physical composite score) correlated negatively with age (P < .001) and positively with Presence (P < .001), and there was an age group x Presence interaction (P = .018), such that the relationship was stronger in subjects over age 60. Mental well-being correlated positively with age (P < .001) and Presence (P < .001) and negatively with Search (P = .002). Cognitive function correlated inversely with age (P < .001) and with Search (P < .001). Significant covariates of Presence and Search had small effect sizes, except for a medium effect size for satisfaction with life and Presence in adults over age 60 (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Presence and search for meaning in life are important for health and well-being, though the relationships differ in adults younger and older than 60 years. Better understanding of the longitudinal relationships of meaning of life with well-being is warranted to design interventions to increase meaning of life and improve health and functioning.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 74 citations exist upstream.

References

2001The PHQ-9 1992The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection.1983A Global Measure of Perceived Stress 1985The Satisfaction With Life Scale 1978The Structure of Coping 1994Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test.2007Psychometric analysis and refinement of the connor–davidson resilience scale (CD‐RISC): Validation of a 10‐item measure of resilience 1991The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope.

Cited by

2023The relationship between purpose in life and depression and anxiety: A meta‐analysis 2020Predictors of Loneliness by Age Decade 2022The aging mind: A complex challenge for research and practice 2023Development and Validation of the “Lying Flat” Tendency Scale for the Youth 2022Sense of purpose as a potential buffer between mental health and subjective cognitive decline

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.