Implicit meaning in life: The assessment and construct validity of implicit meaning in life and relations with explicit meaning in life and depression

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to establish a method for assessing implicit meaning in life (MIL), as well as to determine the relationship between implicit MIL and explicit MIL. This study also tested the hypothesis that implicit MIL would moderate the relationship between explicit MIL and depression. The participants were 242 undergraduate university students (120 women) aged between 18 and 23 (M = 19.71, SD = 1.25) years. Implicit MIL was assessed via a standard implicit association test. In addition, participants completed the Chinese version of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Structural equation modeling and other methods were used to analyze data. The results showed that implicit MIL demonstrated good validity in the implicit association test. Implicit and explicit MIL were uncorrelated and structurally distinct. In addition, the implicit presence of meaning moderated the relationship between the explicit presence of meaning and depression.

KEYWORDS:

• University students
• implicit meaning in life
• search for meaning
• presence of meaning
• depression

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

The participants were informed of matters relevant to the experiment (e.g., operational tasks and experimental content) and the voluntary nature of the study and signed informed consent forms prior to the initiation of the study.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from the participants prior to initiation of the study.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the MOE (Ministry of Education in China) project of humanities and social Sciences [16YJCZH105]; the social science planning project of Jiangxi province [16JY08]; the research project on academic degree and postgraduate education reform in Jiangxi province [JXYJG-2017-039]; and the research project of key research base of humanities and social sciences in universities in Jiangxi province [JD16115].