When is search for meaning in life beneficial for well-being? A cross-national study.
Cross-national variation
External constraints
Macro context
Search for meaning in life
Well-being
Journal
International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie
ISSN: 1464-066X
Titre abrégé: Int J Psychol
Pays: England
ID NLM: 0107305
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Feb 2021
Feb 2021
Historique:
received:
20
05
2019
accepted:
23
05
2020
pubmed:
1
7
2020
medline:
27
2
2021
entrez:
30
6
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Previous research has found cross-national variations in the association between search for meaning in life (SMIL) and well-being (i.e. SMIL-WB link). This study extended and tested a "self-improvement hypothesis" that accounts for such cross-national variations based on an international database-the sixth wave of World Values Survey. SMIL represents a self-improvement effort which is more demanded in contexts with stronger external constraints. Thus, we expected a stronger positive SMIL-WB link in such contexts. A series of multilevel analyses was used to verify this hypothesis. The results showed that the SMIL-WB link varied across different societies, with well-being indexed by happiness, life satisfaction and subjective health. Moreover, external constraints from cultural, social-institutional, economic and ecological contexts (collectivism, peace threats, economic scarcity and environmental threats) moderated the SMIL-WB links. We thus call for advancing SMIL theory by considering person-context interaction.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
75-84Subventions
Organisme : Start-up fund of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Informations de copyright
© 2020 International Union of Psychological Science.
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