IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v158y2024ics019074092400032x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beliefs about the universality of meaning in life enhance psychological and academic adjustment among university students: The role of meaning in life and stress mindset

Author

Listed:
  • Xiao, Luxia
  • Yao, Meilin
  • Liu, Hongrui

Abstract

Lay beliefs about psychological constructs influence experiences and behaviors of individuals in real life. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships of beliefs regarding the universality of meaning in life with subjective well-being (SWB) and academic procrastination, as well as their potential mediating mechanisms. Using a sample of 726 Chinese university students, the present study demonstrated that a higher tendency to believe in the universality of meaning in life correlated with a higher manifestation of meaning in life, stress-is-enhancing mindset, positive affect, and life satisfaction, as well as with lower negative affect and academic procrastination. In addition, the present study indicated that the meaning in life and stress mindset mediated the relationship between beliefs regarding universality of meaning in life and SWB and academic procrastination. That is, university students who believed that meaning in life is universal were more likely to experience it and perceive stress as positive, thus having greater SWB and less academic procrastination. These findings suggest the power of identifying with the universality of meaning in life promotes youth mental health and academic adaptation.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiao, Luxia & Yao, Meilin & Liu, Hongrui, 2024. "Beliefs about the universality of meaning in life enhance psychological and academic adjustment among university students: The role of meaning in life and stress mindset," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:158:y:2024:i:c:s019074092400032x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107460
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019074092400032X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107460?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Veronika Huta & Alan Waterman, 2014. "Eudaimonia and Its Distinction from Hedonia: Developing a Classification and Terminology for Understanding Conceptual and Operational Definitions," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(6), pages 1425-1456, December.
    2. Xiaodan Xu & Yan Xu & Jinzhe Zhao & Panqin Ye & Mengke Yu & Yidie Lai & Juan Wang & Qunying Huang, 2022. "Good Personality and Subjective Well-Being: Presence of Meaning in Life and Perceived Social Support as Mediators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-14, October.
    3. Jian-Bin Li & Ying-Shuang Wang & Kai Dou & Ya-Fei Shang, 2022. "On the Development of Meaning in Life Among College Freshmen: Social Relationship Antecedents and Adjustment Consequences," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1709-1735, April.
    4. Miao Miao & Lei Zheng & Yiqun Gan, 2017. "Meaning in Life Promotes Proactive Coping via Positive Affect: A Daily Diary Study," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1683-1696, December.
    5. Ying Jiang & Hua Ming & Yuan Tian & Silin Huang & Ling Sun & Hui-jie Li & Hongchuan Zhang, 2020. "Cumulative Risk and Subjective Well-Being Among Rural-to-Urban Migrant Adolescents in China: Differential Moderating Roles of Stress Mindset and Resilience," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(7), pages 2429-2449, October.
    6. Ed Diener & Shigehiro Oishi & Louis Tay, 2018. "Advances in subjective well-being research," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 253-260, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicolas Pellerin & Michael Dambrun & Eric Raufaste, 2022. "Selflessness Meets Higher and More Stable Happiness: An Experience Sampling Study of the Joint Dynamics of Selflessness and Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 3127-3142, August.
    2. Peng Cui & Yanhui Mao & Yufan Shen & Jianhong Ma, 2021. "Moral Identity and Subjective Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Identity Commitment Quality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-14, September.
    3. John Stanley & Janet Stanley, 2023. "Improving Appraisal Methodology for Land Use Transport Measures to Reduce Risk of Social Exclusion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-18, August.
    4. Aline Lopes Moreira & Jorge Castellá Sarriera & Leonardo Fernandes Martins & Lívia Maria Bedin & Maria Angela Mattar Yunes & Luciana Cassarino Perez & Murilo Ricardo Zibetti, 2022. "Psychometric Properties of Children’s Subjective Well-Being Scales: a Multigroup Study Investigating School Type, Gender, Age and Region of Children in the South and Southeast Regions of Brazil," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(2), pages 657-679, April.
    5. Ihsana Sabriani Borualogo & Ferran Casas, 2023. "Bullying Victimisation and Children’s Subjective Well-being: A Comparative Study in Seven Asian Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(1), pages 1-27, February.
    6. Merrick Powell & Kirk N. Olsen & William Forde Thompson, 2023. "Music, Pleasure, and Meaning: The Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motivations for Music (HEMM) Scale," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-19, March.
    7. Aline Riboli Marasca & Maurício Scopel Hoffmann & Anelise Reis Gaya & Denise Ruschel Bandeira, 2021. "Subjective Well-Being and Psychopathology Symptoms: Mental Health Profiles and their Relations with Academic Achievement in Brazilian Children," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(3), pages 1121-1137, June.
    8. Federico Contu & Daniela Di Santo & Conrad Baldner & Antonio Pierro, 2023. "Examining the Interaction between Perceived Cultural Tightness and Prevention Regulatory Focus on Life Satisfaction in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-10, January.
    9. Erik Carlquist & Pål Ulleberg & Antonella Delle Fave & Hilde E. Nafstad & Rolv M. Blakar, 2017. "Everyday Understandings of Happiness, Good Life, and Satisfaction: Three Different Facets of Well-being," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 12(2), pages 481-505, June.
    10. Zins, Andreas H. & Ponocny, Ivo, 2022. "On the importance of leisure travel for psychosocial wellbeing," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    11. Lenka Mynaříková & Vít Pošta, 2023. "The Effect of Consumer Confidence and Subjective Well-being on Consumers’ Spending Behavior," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 429-453, February.
    12. Damianus Abun & Restita B. Pellogo & Theogenia Magallanes & Melody Luz, M. Sapinoso & Mary Joy Encarnacion, 2021. "Employees' Workplace Well-Being and Organizational Citizenship Behavior of Private Education in Ilocos Norte, Philippines," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 19(1), pages 421-438, May.
    13. Mamatzakis, Emmanuel C. & Tsionas, Mike G., 2021. "Making inference of British household's happiness efficiency: A Bayesian latent model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 294(1), pages 312-326.
    14. Ekaterina Oparina & Sorawoot Srisuma, 2022. "Analyzing Subjective Well-Being Data with Misclassification," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 730-743, April.
    15. Erin Percival Carter & Stephanie Welcomer, 2021. "Designing and Distinguishing Meaningful Artisan Food Experiences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-13, July.
    16. Xiangdan Piao & Xinxin Ma & Tetsuya Tsurumi & Shunsuke Managi, 2022. "Social Capital, Negative Event, Life Satisfaction and Sustainable Community: Evidence from 37 Countries," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 1311-1330, June.
    17. Raquel Pérez-Ordás & Javier Piñeiro-Cossio & Óscar Díaz-Chica & Ester Ayllón-Negrillo, 2022. "Relevant Variables in the Stimulation of Psychological Well-Being in Physical Education: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-26, July.
    18. Daniela Raccanello & Giada Vicentini & Elena Trifiletti & Roberto Burro, 2020. "A Rasch Analysis of the School-Related Well-Being (SRW) Scale: Measuring Well-Being in the Transition from Primary to Secondary School," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-17, December.
    19. Hezhi Chen & Zhijia Zeng, 2023. "Seeking Pleasure is Good, but Avoiding Pain is Bad: Distinguishing Hedonic Approach from Hedonic Avoidance Orientations," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 2377-2393, October.
    20. Nona C. Kiknadze & Blaine J. Fowers, 2023. "Cultural Variation in Flourishing," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 2223-2244, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:158:y:2024:i:c:s019074092400032x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.