The human experience of meaning in life is widely viewed as a cornerstone of well-being and a central human motivation. Self-reports of meaning in life relate to a host of important functional outcomes. Psychologists have portrayed meaning in life as simultaneously chronically lacking in human life as well as playing an important role in survival. Examining the growing literature on meaning in life, we address the question "How meaningful is life, in general?" We review possible answers from various psychological sources, some of which anticipate that meaning in life should be low and others that it should be high. Summaries of epidemiological data and research using two self-report measures of meaning in life suggest that life is pretty meaningful. Diverse samples rate themselves significantly above the midpoint on self-reports of meaning in life. We suggest that if meaning in life plays a role in adaptation, it must be commonplace, as our analysis suggests.

Life is pretty meaningful.

Objectives: This study examined the psychometric properties of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) with individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) in an inpatient setting (N = 96). The 10-item MLQ comprises Presence (perceived meaning) and Search (motivation to discover meaning) scales. Design: This study focused on the reliability and validity of the MLQ, reporting a range of data, including correlations and regression (predicting scores on a measure of psychopathology, the Brief Symptom Inventory). Results: Both MLQ scales yielded reliable scores. The current sample tended to report greater Presence, whereas Search means tended to be similar to those reported in other studies. The association between Presence and the Brief Symptom Inventory was not statistically significant. As for Search, people reporting greater motivation to discover meaning tended to report greater degrees of symptoms. The Presence and Search scales correlated at r =.12, which was unexpected given that most studies note an inverse relationship. However, this finding is considered in light of an interaction effect between Presence and Search when predicting psychological distress. Conclusions: The current findings are supportive of the MLQ's utility with individuals with SMI. Limitations and directions for research are offered. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 67:1–10, 2011.

The Meaning In Life Questionnaire: psychometric properties with individuals with serious mental illness in an inpatient setting.

Objectives. This study examined associations between diverse types of personality disorder (PD) features, personality traits, suicidal ideation, and protective factors against suicide among community-dwelling older adults. METHODS: Participants (N = 109, M age = 71.4 years, 61% female) completed the Coolidge Axis II Inventory, NEO Five-Factor Inventory, Geriatric Suicide Ideation Scale, and Reasons for Living Inventory. RESULTS: PD features had positive correlations with suicidal ideation and mixed relationships with aspects of reasons for living. Personality traits had negative correlations with suicidal ideation, with the exception of neuroticism, which had a positive relationship, and were mostly unrelated to reasons for living. In regression analyses, borderline and histrionic were the only PD features that contributed significant variance in suicidal ideation, whereas neuroticism was the only personality trait that contributed significant variance in suicidal ideation. No individual PD features or personality traits contributed significant variance in reasons for living. Discussion. The findings highlight the complexity of risk and protective factors for suicide and suggest that a thorough assessment of suicidal potential among older adults should include attention to their underlying personality traits. Language: en

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Personality, Suicidal Ideation, and Reasons for Living among Older Adults

The correlates and predictors of suicidal ideation were examined in 303 male and 691 female undergraduates. Results indicated that hopelessness predicted suicidal ideation in both samples; however, depression was found to be a significant suicide risk factor only in women. In contrast, alcohol-related problems and social support from family predicted suicidal ideation in men, but not in women. In addition, for both men and women perceived burdensomeness was a suicide risk factor and reasons for living a protective factor. When assessing risk for suicide, our results suggest that practitioners may need to focus more on depressive symptoms in women and more on alcohol-related problems in men, while considering hopelessness, perceived burdensomeness, and reasons for living regardless of gender. Prevention programs which target these identified risk and protective factors for suicidality should be developed specifically for college men and women.

Gender Differences in Risk and Protective Factors for Suicidal Ideation among College Students.

This study aims to explore the impact of specific facets of impulsivity as measured by the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale (UPPS), as well as reasons for living in predicting suicidal ideation among African American college-aged students The incremental validity of each facet of the UPPS interacting with reasons for living, a construct meant to buffer against risk for suicide, was explored in a sample of African American students (N = 130; ages 18–24) Results revealed significant interactions between reasons for living and two factors of impulsivity, (lack of) premeditation and sensation seeking Higher levels of sensation seeking and lack of premeditation in conjunction with lower reasons for living was associated with increased suicidal ideation Neither urgency nor (lack of) perseverance significantly interacted with reasons for living in association with suicidal ideation These results suggest including elements of impulsivity, specifically sensation seeking and (lack of) premeditation, when screening for suicidal ideation among African American youth Future investigations should continue to integrate factors of both risk and protection when determining risk for suicide

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Impulsivity and Reasons for Living Among African American Youth: A Risk-Protection Framework of Suicidal Ideation

The roles of personality, stressful life events, meaning in life, reasons for living on suicidal ideation: A study in college students.

Theory of Mind, or the ability to attribute mental states to the self and others, forms the foundation of social cognitive processes or social cognition. Since its conception in 1978, the construct has been enjoying increasing attention from researchers and it has been widely studied in the context of autism spectrum disorder. This paper tries to review the issues surrounding the assessment of the construct. Theory of Mind (ToM) assessment goes almost synonymously with false belief tests. And assessing ToM with false belief tasks did not pose a problem because the construct had traditionally been studied mostly, if not exclusively on children. This paper discusses the danger of testing theory of mind with false belief tasks only and the serious necessity to study the construct in the adult population. The paper also discusses why the construct needs to be assessed in a culture-specific manner, the problems with the existing recent tools that have been developed to measure the construct, the complexity of simulating real social stimuli, and the subtleties around the construct that is to be taken care of while developing assessment measures.

Assessment of Theory of Mind in Adults: Beyond False Belief Tasks

The present study examines the roles of personality, stressful life events in last one year, presence of meaning, search for meaning, reasons for living in predicting trait hope and state hope of college students. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.The Presumptive Stressful Life Event Scale, The Meaning in Life Questionnaire, Reasons for Living Inventory for Young Adults or RFL-YA, The future Scale, Goals Scale for the present were administered to 320 college students comprising of 160 males and 160 females, of 4 college of Kolkata. The obtained data have been analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis. The findings suggest that except stressful life events and presence of meaning, other predictor variables i.e. personality, search for meaning, reasons for living contribute significantly on criterion variable (trait hope and state hope). Therefore it is concluded from the present study that search for meaning and reasons for living act as buffer against stress and contribute to trait hope and state hope among college students.

Personality, Stressful Life Events, Meaning in Life and Reasons for Living

Adaptation and Validation of Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-III in Bengali for Screening MCI and Dementia.

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Atanu Kumar Dogra

Papers

The roles of personality, stressful life events, meaning in life, reasons for living on suicidal ideation: A study in college students.

Assessment of Theory of Mind in Adults: Beyond False Belief Tasks

Personality, Stressful Life Events, Meaning in Life and Reasons for Living

Adaptation and Validation of Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-III in Bengali for Screening MCI and Dementia.

Self-Concept among Adolescents of Mixed Sex and Single Sex Education Schools