When does meaning making predict subjective well-being? Examining young and older adults in two cultures

Abstract

Two studies in different cultures (Study 1: USA, N=174, Study 2: Trinidad, N=167) examined whether meaning making, (i.e., both searching for meaning, and directing behaviour) is positively related to subjective well-being (SWB) by age (younger, older adults). In both studies, participants self-reported engagement in meaning making, and SWB (e.g., affect, future time perspective, psychological well-being). In Study 1, young Americans (compared to older) more frequently used their past to direct behaviour but doing so was unrelated to SWB. In older Americans, both types of meaning making were positively associated with SWB. In Study 2, Trinidadian younger adults were again more likely than older adults to engage in meaning making. Unlike in the American sample, however, directing behaviour was positively related to SWB for both young and older adults. The studies demonstrate that whether meaning making shows benefits for SWB may depend on type of meaning, age and culture. Note that although meaning making was sometimes unrelated to SWB, no detrimental relations to meaning making were found. The discussion focuses on the role of moderators in understanding when meaning making should lead to benefits versus costs to SWB.

Keywords:

• Meaning making
• Directive function
• Subjective well-being
• Adulthood
• Culture

Acknowledgments

This research was partially supported by a Campus Research and Publication Fund Award from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, and a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Predoctoral Minority Fellowship awarded to the first author from the National Institute on Aging, grant number 1 F31 AG20505.

Notes

¹We recognise research that has linked meaning making to subjective well-being using linguistic analyses (e.g., Fivush et al., 2008; Pennebaker & Francis, 1996; Rice & Pasupathi, 2010). This work is not reviewed here because we adhere to the view that meaning is garnered through remembering and reasoning about autobiographical events (Freeman, 2010), and linking these events across time through autobiographical reasoning (Bluck & Habermas, 2000). It is not clear with the current literature whether word counts of cognitive processes in narratives adequately represent our view of meaning making.

²Using the past as a directive is closely aligned with what McLean and others call “learning lessons” (e.g., Bluck & Glück, 2004; McLean & Pratt, 2006; McLean & Thorne, 2003). We link the literature on learning lessons with using the past to direct behaviour in the current studies. Further, in previous research, lesson learning and gaining insights (which is more closely aligned with searching for meaning) from the past are often measured on a continuum (e.g., Alea, McLean, & Vick, 2010; McLean & Pratt, 2006), not allowing for distinctions to be made.

³The relation between gender and searching for meaning is not present when controlling for overall level of thinking and talking about the past, r _p (170) = .13, p > .05. The positive relation between FTP and negative affect is not present when controlling for age, r _p (170) = .01, p > .05, and an effect emerges for positive affect, r _p (170) = .35, p < .001. The relation between education and FTP also disappears when controlling for age, r _p (170) = –.06, p > .05.

⁴Analyses were also run using a residualised term for using memory to direct behaviour (i.e., the variance shared with searching for meaning was removed) per the regression analyses (see details in text). Results were identical to those reported. The same holds for Study 2.

⁵Age was entered as a categorical variable to be consistent with the MANCOVAs in both Study 1 and Study 2.

⁶There were not enough men in the Trinidadian sample to run meaningful gender analyses. Even so, when study analyses were run only for women, results are identical to those reported. Thus, gender is not considered further.

⁷The searching for meaning variable also contains the variance shared with using the past to direct behaviour. However, the directing behaviour variable represents the unique effects of using the past to guide and direct behaviour and decisions (see Results section for details).