Profiles of meaning and search for meaning among prisoners

Meaning in life and searching for meaning are central in how people organize their lives and deal with various challenges during them. Studies on meaning and the search for meaning among prisoners are virtually nonexistent. Based on the presence of meaning in their lives and on their search for meaning, we discovered four different profiles in a sample of 365 prisoners: High Presence High Search, High Presence Low Search, Low Presence High Search, and Low Presence Low Search. Compared to prisoners with low meaning profiles, those whose profiles were marked by higher levels of meaning displayed less distress, more positive world assumptions, and higher levels of self-worth. They also show more empathy for others. Older prisoners and prisoners who were sexually abused during childhood were more represented in the profile that was marked by extremely low levels of meaning and low levels of search for meaning.     

Adult self-image and well-being after testicular cancer: The role of agency and meaning

Objective: Cancer during young adulthood can limit the extent to which one adopts an adult self-image. However, the relationship of adult self-image to cancer-related adjustment remains unexplored. The current study examines relationships of adult self-image and social/emotional well-being and job-related problems in young testicular cancer survivors. Factors thought to facilitate future-oriented goals (i.e. agency and meaning) are examined as intermediary processes.

Design: Testicular cancer survivors (N = 171) between the ages of 18 and 29 completed questionnaire measures of adult self-image, agency, sense of meaning and indicators of adjustment.

Main Outcome Measures: Social and emotional well-being were measured by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General. Job problems were assessed using the EORTC’s testicular cancer supplement (EORTC QLQ-TC26).

Results: Path model results revealed direct associations of survivors’ adult self-image with social (β = .20, p < .05), but not emotional well-being (β = .14, p < .01). Both agency and meaning mediated the relationship of adult self-image and well-being indicators. Finally, the relationship between adult self-image and job problems was only significant for those who were employed or in school (β = ?.19, p < .05).

Outcomes: Assessment of adult self-image might be useful in identifying risk for poor adjustment. Interventions that target agency and meaning might facilitate developmental goals.     

Struggle with ultimate meaning: Nuanced associations with search for meaning,presence of meaning,and mental health

Struggle with ultimate meaning reflects concerns about whether one’s life has a deeper meaning or purpose. We examined whether this construct could be distinguished from presence of meaning in life and search for meaning. In two US samples – a web-based sample (N = 1047) and an undergraduate sample (N = 3978) – confirmatory factor analyses showed that struggle with ultimate meaning loaded on a factor that was distinct from but related to presence (negatively) and search (positively). Moderated regression analyses showed that people with low levels of presence combined with high levels of search for meaning were particularly likely to struggle with ultimate meaning. Additionally, when compared to presence and search, struggle with ultimate meaning related more strongly to depressive symptoms than presence or search. These results suggest that struggle with ultimate meaning represents a distinct component of how people grapple with meaning that has implications for mental health.     

Meaning in life and violations of beliefs and goals: reciprocal relations among individuals with congestive heart failure

Background and objectives: In the context of highly stressful experiences, violations of beliefs and goals and meaning in life may have a reciprocal relationship over time. More violations may lead to lowered meaning, whereas higher meaning may lead to lowered violations. The present study examines this relationship among congestive heart failure (CHF) patients.

Design: A cross-lagged panel design was used.

Methods: CHF patients (N?=?142) reported twice, six months apart, on their meaning in life and the extent to which CHF violates their beliefs and goals.

Results: Overall, results were consistent with a reciprocal relationship, showing that greater goal violations led to negative subsequent changes in meaning, whereas greater meaning led to favorable subsequent changes in violations of beliefs and goals.

Conclusions: Meaning in life and violations may contribute to one another, and therefore, in understanding the adjustment process, it is important to consider their interrelationship. The results are also broadly informative regarding the experience of meaning, showing that disruption of beliefs and goals may undermine meaning.     

LOSING SAMMY: A CATALYST FOR EXITING AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

Miscarriage is a relatively prevalent occurrence in our society. The reported incidence of this event indicates that 20% of all women experience a miscarriage. Women who have miscarried report friends and family responding in ways that seem to try to reduce the impact and importance of the event. This leaves the grieving woman with a sense of little support or understanding of what she had just experienced. Furthermore, the experiences reported by women who have had a miscarriage are quite different from those reported by other individuals who have experienced other types of loss such as a spouse, partner, parent, or friend. Women who have miscarried report a lack of recognition that they have experienced a loss. Little is known about how society views miscarriage or why individuals respond in such an apparently unsupportive manner to a woman who has had a miscarriage. The present work sought to determine whether miscarriage is an unrecognized loss and to assess the meaning of miscarriage to others. Although the results indicate miscarriage is viewed as a loss, it is a loss with minimal grounded or valuative meaning for others, which suggests that the cultural norm of silence surrounding early pregnancy and miscarriage should be lifted     

Cognitive processes in psychological adaptation to miscarriage: A preliminary report

Abstract

Twenty-two women who wished to continue their pregnancies were interviewed several months after their first miscarriage. Levels of anxiety and depression showed an extremely high degree of variability. Cognitive processes in the form of a search for meaning, mastery and self-enhancement hypothesised to be important in adaptation to negative events were assessed. Having an explanation for the miscarriage and the experience leading to a general reappraisal of values were associated with lower levels of intrusive thoughts. A belief in a medical cause was linked to lower anxiety. Women believed that neither they themselves nor their doctors could exert much influence over the outcome of future pregnancies. Stronger belief in personal control was associated with higher anxiety levels. There is a need to consider not only the emotional consequences of miscarriage but also the cognitive mediators influencing such responses and although based upon a small sample this study initiates that process.     

Religious meaning making and attachment in a disaster context: A longitudinal qualitative study of flood survivors

ABSTRACT

The goal of this longitudinal qualitative study was to develop a grounded theory of religious meaning making and attachment in a disaster context. At 1-month (T1; n = 36) and 6-months postdisaster (T2; n = 29), we conducted in-depth interviews with a highly religious sample of adult survivors of the 2016 Louisiana flood, using a disaster-adapted version of the Religious Attachment Interview. We utilized Corbin and Strauss’s grounded-theory approach for data analysis. At both timepoints, results revealed that survivors who were theistic believers engaged in postdisaster religious meaning making in which they drew on benevolent God representations and theodicies to appraise the disaster’s cause, purpose, and religious-attachment effects, thereby contributing to positive religious-attachment outcomes (religious meanings made; e.g. renewed beliefs and experiences of God’s benevolence and providence). Findings are discussed in terms of theories and research on disasters, meaning making, and religious attachment, including implications for research and practice.     

The role of meaning in gastric cancer patients: relationships among meaning structures,coping, and psychological well-being

ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives: Research demonstrates that the experience of cancer invariably violates patients’ meaning structures, prompting them to use coping strategies to alleviate stress and enhance well-being. The current study aimed to examine the mediating effects of coping strategies in the relationship between global and situational meaning and psychological well-being in gastric cancer patients.

Design and Method: One hundred eighty-seven patients (96 women and 91 men) with gastric cancer completed questionnaires measuring meaning in life, changes of beliefs and goals, coping, and psychological well-being. Participants were between 27 and 82 years of age. They were diagnosed with gastric cancer from 1 to 3.2 years ago. Using Structural Equation Modeling, both the direct and indirect associations between meaning structures, coping, and psychological well-being were examined.

Results: Meaning in life exerted significant indirect effects on psychological well-being through three coping strategies: problem-, emotion-, and meaning-focused. The relationship between changes of beliefs and goals and psychological well-being was also mediated by coping.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that coping strategies are mediators in the relationship between global and situational meaning and psychological well-being. They also provide empirical evidence that in severe cancer-related stress conditions both meaning structures and coping strategies influence patients’ psychological well-being.     

The meaningful life in Japan and the United States: Levels and correlates of meaning in life

Culture supplies people with the provisions to derive meaning from life. However, no research has examined cultural variation in the two principal dimensions of meaning in life, presence of meaning and search for meaning. The present investigation adapted theories of self-concept and cognitive styles to develop a dialectical model of meaning in life, which predicted cultural differences in the tendency to experience search for meaning as opposed to, or harmonious with, presence of meaning. Using data from American (N = 1183) and Japanese (N = 982) young adults, mean levels and correlates of presence of meaning and search for meaning were examined. As predicted, Americans reported greater presence of meaning; Japanese reported greater search for meaning. In accordance with the model, search for meaning was negatively related to presence of meaning and well-being in the United States (opposed) and positively related to these variables in Japan (harmonious). Thus, the search for meaning appears to be influenced by culture, and search for meaning appears to moderate cultural influences on presence of meaning.     

The regulation of subjective well-being in cancer patients: An analysis of coping effectiveness

Abstract

The hypothesis that individual coping efforts affect subjective well-being in the face of severe chronic disease is examined with questionnaire data from N=332 cancer patients in a one-year longitudinal study. After depicting conceptual and methodological requirements for the analysis of coping effectiveness, the following five coping modes were investigated in the sample: Rumination, search for affiliation, threat minimization, search for information and search for meaning in religion. Results from a series of hierarchical regression analyses yielded findings that questioned the underlying assumption of a general uniform causal direction within coping-adjustment relationships. Threat minimization proved to be the only coping mode that obviously was “effective” in well-being regulation, that is, was revealed to be predictive of well-being changes over time and to be unaffected by prior levels of well-being. It is argued that the problem of causal directionality has to be carefully examined in future studies on coping effectiveness since interindividual differences in coping behaviors might be a consequence rather than the cause of differences in adjustment status.     

La fausse couche : du côté des hommes

ObjectiveThe experience and psychological consequences of a miscarriage have been widely studied but mainly among women. This qualitative study aims to examine the experience of men whose woman has had a spontaneous abortion.MethodThirteen men who have lost an early pregnancy during the five past years participated to a semi-directive interview. The interview was based on the analytical framework previously established and took into account various themes such as psychological experience, marital relationship, guilt, coping strategies, social support given to the spouse, and significance of the loss. All the interviews have been transcribed and studied with a thematic analyse.ResultsResults underline the difficulties linked to the experience of miscarriage among men. Many of them were shocked and have had a sustainable significant distress expressed by sadness, tears or depressive symptoms. In addition to their own difficulties, men have to confront women's distress and want to be a support. Guilt was expressed more or less directly, concerning the miscarriage but also concerning men's reactions toward women. Some of them who encountered psychological problems found very difficult not to be able to support their wife. A miscarriage is a difficult event for a couple and two men interviewed separated shortly after. Several coping strategies were used by men, the most common were seeking social support and avoidance. As in women, significance of the loss was different among men, some of them have lost a child, others an embryo or a life project.ConclusionResults show the variety of feelings and reactions of men that highlight the need to consider their psychological distress. While all men are not equally involved in miscarriage, difficulties encountered by some of them can last several months. Given this results, support interventions for males seems interesting.     

“Why me?” – women’s use of spiritual causal attributions in making sense of breast cancer

Objective: This study addressed the role of positive (event is due to God’s Love or to God’s Will) and negative (event is due to God’s Anger) spiritual causal attributions in women’s adjustment to breast cancer.

Design: Ninety-three women diagnosed with breast cancer were assessed at six times from pre-diagnosis through two years post-surgery.

Main outcome measures: Women completed positive and negative measures of spiritual causal attributions (e.g. God’s Love), cognitive appraisals (e.g. threat), coping behaviour (e.g. avoidance) and well-being (e.g. distress).

Results: Positive spiritual attributions were consistently related to positive aspects of adjustment (e.g. positive appraisal, acceptance coping, and/or emotional well-being) while negative spiritual attribution was related to negative factors (e.g. appraisals of loss and uncontrollability, avoidance coping, and/or emotional distress). Path analyses revealed that the effects of positive and negative spiritual attributions on well-being were mediated by general cognitive appraisal and coping behaviour. Cross-lagged correlational analysis revealed a ‘downward spiral’ effect wherein the negative attribution of God’s Anger at pre-diagnosis predicted greater distress at 1 week pre-surgery which in turn predicted an increase in the negative attribution and so on across time.

Conclusion: Although positive spiritual attributions may help women maintain an attitude of hope and acceptance in the face of cancer, results indicate that the effects of negative spiritual attribution can play a significant role in undermining their well-being.     

“I Am Just an Ordinary Person …”: Spiritual Reminiscence in Older People with Memory Loss

SUMMARY

One of the greatest challenges to people diagnosed with dementia is their search for meaning leading to the development of effective coping strategies as their memory loss and confusion progresses. The challenge for carers is to learn ways of entering the world of people who have difficulties communicating and have behaviour problems, assisting them to communicate more effectively by responding to their interests and needs, and listening to their emotions expressed in various ways. Strategies are being developed for supporting and affirming personhood in those people who are often isolated and withdrawn from even their closest friends and relatives. Spiritual reminiscence work is one way of helping older people with memory loss find meaning in their lives as they cope with the day to day difficulties of memory loss and prepare for death.

This paper will present the results from indepth interviews from 16 participants in a larger study exploring memory loss and spiritual reminiscence. Themes arising from the data analysis revolve around notions of relationships, loneliness, family and attendance at worship.     

Barriers to maintaining a sense of meaning and control in the face of loss

Abstract

Although finding meaning and reestablishing a sense of control following a major loss are important contributors to successful coping, many individuals are unable to restore these adaptive assumptions. Five strategies for reestablishing meaning and control are identified, and it is proposed that the use of these strategies requires cognitive work, the ability to change views and try new perspectives, and flexibility in goal identification. This framework is used to understand why many people fail to find meaning and control following a serious loss. Characteristics of the situation that make it difficult to find meaning and control include the severity and type of the loss. Personal factors that block or impede the restoration of adaptive assumptions include an avoidant coping style, few opportunities to vent, the belief that positive interpretation involves self-delusion, a rigid belief system, and difficulty in disengaging from goals. Interventions to address these blockades and increase successful coping are discussed.     

Family as a salient source of meaning in young adulthood

Five studies demonstrated the role of family relationships as an important source of perceived meaning in life. In Study 1 (n?=?50), 68% participants reported that their families were the single most significant contributor to personal meaning. Study 2 (n?=?231) participants ranked family above 12 likely sources of meaning. Studies 3 (n?=?87) and 4 (n?=?130) demonstrated that participants’ reports of their closeness to family (Study 3) and support from family (Study 4) predicted perceived meaning in life, even when controlling for several competing variables. Study 5 (n?=?261) ruled out social desirability as an alternative explanation to the proposed relationship between family and meaning. We conclude that for young adults, family relationships are a primary source of meaning in life and they contribute to their sense of meaning.     

The meaning profiles of anxiety and depression: similarities and differences in two age groups

ABSTRACT

The distinctiveness of anxiety and depression is discussed concerning their nature, definitions, uses, manifestations and determinants. The objective was to examine the difference and similarity of anxiety and depression by applying the psychosemantic approach, which is a theory and methodology based on analysing the cognitive processes applied in communicating meanings. In Study 1, there were 760 participants of both genders, 23–31 years old. They were administered the Meanings Test, which yields the respondent’s meaning profile, and one of seven anxiety scales or one of three depression scales. Significant correlations between the meaning profiles and the anxiety or depression scales were summarised and compared. In Study 2, there were 78 individuals over 65 years old who were administered the Meanings Test plus an anxiety or depression scale. The findings for anxiety and depression were compared within and across age groups. The results yielded two distinct meaning profiles for anxiety and depression in the two age groups. The anxiety profile indicated more focusing on one’s internal world. whereas the depression profile indicated focusing both on the personal and the interpersonally shared reality. The conclusion was that anxiety and depression are different constructs that need to be considered as separate theoretically and practically.     

Emotional approach coping: Gender differences on psychological adjustment in young to middle-aged cancer survivors

Objective : The effect of emotional approach coping (EAC) varies by gender. However, this gender difference has not yet been investigated in cancer survivors. We investigated whether the effects of two kinds of EAC – emotional processing (EP) and emotional expression (EE) – vary by gender and whether EAC has effects above and beyond the effect of other coping strategies.

Design : EAC and other coping strategies were assessed at baseline in a sample of 248 young to middle-aged adult (between the age of 22 and 55) cancer survivors. One hundred and sixty-six survivors responded to psychological adjustment one year later.

Results : EAC had different relationships with Time 2 adjustment in men and women. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that for men, EE predicted lower intrusive thoughts and, for women, EP was associated with higher positive affect when other coping strategies and EE were controlled.

Conclusion : Gender differences held true in cancer survivors, and EAC was effective when other coping strategies were controlled. Further, EE was effective in reducing negative adjustment in men while EP was helpful in promoting positive adjustment in women.     

Social anxiety and interpersonal stress generation: the moderating role of interpersonal distress

Background and Objectives: Existing models of social anxiety scarcely account for interpersonal stress generation. These models also seldom include interpersonal factors that compound the effects of social anxiety. Given recent findings that two forms of interpersonal distress, perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, intensify social anxiety and cause interpersonal stress generation, these two constructs may be especially relevant to examining social anxiety and interpersonal stress generation together.

Design: The current study extended prior research by examining the role of social anxiety in the occurrence of negative and positive interpersonal events and evaluated whether interpersonal distress moderated these associations.

Methods: Undergraduate students (N?=?243; M?=?20.46 years; 83% female) completed self-report measures of social anxiety, perceived burdensomeness, and thwarted belongingness, as well as a self-report measure and clinician-rated interview assessing negative and positive interpersonal events that occurred over the past six weeks.

Results: Higher levels of social anxiety were associated only with a higher occurrence of negative interpersonal dependent events, after controlling for depressive symptoms. This relationship was stronger among individuals who also reported higher levels of perceived burdensomeness, but not thwarted belongingness.

Conclusions: It may be important to more strongly consider interpersonal stress generation in models of social anxiety.     

The Miscarriage Experience: More Than Just a Trigger to Psychological Morbidity?

Most quantitative research considers miscarriage a trigger to grief, anxiety and depression. The present qualitative study involved in depth interviews with a heterogeneous sample of 13 women who had experienced a miscarriage up to five weeks previously. The women described their experiences using a range of themes which were conceptualised into three stages: turmoil, adjustment and resolution. For the majority, the turmoil stage was characterised by feelings of being unprepared and negative emotions. Some women who had had an unwanted pregnancy described their shock at the physical trauma of miscarriage but described the experience as a relief. The women then described a period of adjustment involving social comparisons, sharing and a search for meaning. The latter included a focus on causality which left a minority, particularly those who had had previous miscarriages, feeling frustrated with the absence of a satisfactory medical explanation. The final resolution stage was characterised by a decline in negative emotions, a belief by some that the miscarriage was a learning experience and the integration of the experience into their lives. This resolution seemed more positive for those with children and more negative if the miscarriage was not their first. Rather than being a trigger to psychological morbidity a miscarriage should be conceptualised as a process involving the stages of turmoil, adjustment and resolution. Miscarriage could also be considered a pivotal point in the lives of many women resulting in the reassessment of both their past and future experiences.     

Predictors of psychological outcomes in a longitudinal study of Latina breast cancer survivors

Objective: This study sought to investigate the unique contributions of socio-ecological, cultural and cancer treatment-related factors in predicting depressive symptoms and cancer-specific distress among Latinas. Design: Participants were 140 English or Spanish-speaking Latinas (M_age = 50.6) with non-metastatic breast cancer who were assessed within two years of diagnosis (Time 1) and three months later (Time 2).

Main Measures: Hierarchical regression analyses identified predictors of depressive symptoms and cancer-specific distress at Time 1 and 2.

Results: Most women scored above the clinical cut-offs for depressive symptoms and cancer-specific distress. After adjusting for socio-ecological factors, greater Latino enculturation, measured by Latino ethnic identity, was significantly associated with greater cancer-specific distress at Time 1 (β = .20, p < .05). A significant interaction (p < .01) revealed that among women high on Latino identity, lower English language use was associated with more cancer-specific distress than higher English language use. After adjusting for socio-ecological factors, greater satisfaction with surgical treatment predicted improved depressive symptoms and cancer-specific distress across time (β_s range from ?.31 to ?.18, p_s < .01).

Conclusions: Findings elucidate the complex relationship between culture and psychological outcomes in the breast cancer context and suggest that treatment satisfaction might be an important intervention target for Latinas.