University students' mental well-being during COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of resilience between meaning in life and mental well-being.

The current study aims to examine (a) the mental well-being of university students, who were taking online classes, and (b) and test whether resilience would mediate the relationship between meaning in life and mental well-being. The sample of 302 university students (Mage = 20.25 years; 36.1% men, 63.9% women) was taken from the universities of Punjab, Pakistan. The participants were recruited online and they completed a cross-sectional survey comprising the scales of meaning in life, resilience, and mental well-being during COVID-19. Findings from the study indicated that participants had a normal to a satisfactory level of overall mental wellbeing during COVID-19. Resilience acted as a mediator for both the presence of meaning in life, the search for meaning in life, and mental well-being. Demographic variables including family size were significantly and positively related to resilience while the availability of personal room showed a significant positive relationship with mental well-being. These findings suggest that meaning in life and resilience supports mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic and that effective steps should be taken to make the lives of university students more meaningful and resilient.

Meaning in challenging times: how we might respond to the global COVID-19 pandemic?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine meaning in life as an important resource during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approachThis paper summarized key research establishing links between meaning in life and mental health and well-being variables, reviewed the literature on meaning as a protective factor and meaning-making as a coping mechanism amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as provided focal points in cultivating meaning in life. FindingsStudies strongly support the notion that meaning in life is essential for health and well-being. Research also suggests that meaning protects against worsening mental health, and that engaging in meaning-making is a coping process that ultimately leads to improved adjustment despite the stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight themes are also identified in cultivating skills to build meaning during adverse times. Practical implicationsIntegrating what research has found about meaning, resilience and coping can help individuals develop practical strategies to cultivate meaning in their lives to support themselves and their communities during stressful times. Originality/valueUnderstanding the ways in which meaning can support individuals' health and well-being is critical during a global upheaval such as that of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Relationship Between Meaning in Life and Health Behaviors in Adults Aged 55 Years and Over During the COVID-19 Pandemic: the Mediating Role of Risk Perception and the Moderating Role of Powerful Others Health Locus of Control.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has impacted many people's meaning in life and health behaviors. This study aimed to verify the relationship among meaning in life (MIL), epidemic risk perception, health locus of control (HLC), and preventive health behaviors among older adults after the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic. METHOD: In this longitudinal study, 164 participants aged 55 years and above completed the following measures at time 1 (February 19, 2021) and one month later at time 2 (March 19, 2021): Meaning in Life in the Epidemic Questionnaire, Epidemic Risk Perception Questionnaire, Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, and Health Behaviors Before and After the Epidemic Survey. Hayes' SPSS Process Macro was used to analyze the mediating effect of epidemic risk perception (model 4) and the moderating role of powerful others HLC in the mediation model (model 14). RESULTS: The results showed that after controlling for gender, age, education level, and health behaviors at the baseline, risk perception had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between MIL and preventive health behaviors (ß = .02, SE = .01, 95% CI [.00, .04]). In addition, powerful others HLC had a moderating effect on the second half of the mediating effect (ß = .02, p = .02, 95% CI [.00, .03]). Specifically, compared to the older adults with low powerful others HLC, the risk perception of older adults with high powerful others HLC increased preventive health behaviors. CONCLUSION: Practitioners should adequately cultivate older adults' risk awareness and reinforce the importance of advice from doctors and professionals, thereby effectively enhancing the preventive health behaviors of older adults in China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact of death anxiety on mental health during COVID-19: The mediating role of the meaning in life

The aim of this article is to explore whether COVID-19 aroused an awareness of death, inflamed death anxiety, and affected mental health and to assess the degree that meaning in life played in the relationship between death anxiety and general mental health. A total of 197 participants were recruited using convenience sampling and were divided into an experimental group (n = 100) and a control group (n = 97). All participants completed the Death Anxiety Scale (DA), the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Death anxiety had a significant positive predictive effect on general mental health and meaning in life. When death anxiety and meaning in life were included in the regression equation, death anxiety still had a significant positive predictive effect on general mental health, and meaning in life had a significant positive predictive effect on general mental health. These results indicated that meaning in life played a partially mediating role in the influence of death anxiety on general mental health. In the COVID-19 context, death information was found to arouse awareness of death and death anxiety, which adversely affected mental health, and it was also confirmed that meaning in life played a partially mediating role between death anxiety and general mental health, which suggested that mental health problems could be alleviated in the future by helping people find meaning and value in their lives and cope more positively with death.

How can employees break free from helplessness in critical work incidents?

Critical incidents, defined as traumatic time-limited events, often happen unexpectedly, and have largely impacted employees in many ways. In this study, we apply the conservation of resources theory as our overarching framework to examine whether and when employees involved in a critical work incident would experience helplessness at work, which may consequently spill over into the life domain and negatively impact their well-being. Taking the COVID-19 as a typical example of critical incidents, we collected multiwave data from 765 Chinese doctors. The results showed that perceived COVID-19 event strength is positively related to doctors' helplessness at work, which further negatively impacts their presence of meaning in life. Besides, meaningful work exacerbates the effect of perceived COVID-19 event strength on doctors' helplessness, while social support and psychological detachment reduce the negative impact of helplessness on their presence of meaning in life. Our study calls attention to protection of the mental health and psychological well-being of employees faced with critical incidents at work and their psychological recovery, and sheds light on the effectiveness of social support and psychological detachment as resource replenishing mechanisms, while cautions against further emphasizing work meaningfulness to employees confronted with a highly novel, disruptive, and critical work event. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Searching for meaning in a disruptive world – Constructing a lexicon of the meanings of meaning

Orientation: Meaning is not a concept whose significance needs to be debated anymore. Rather, the meaning of meaning is a concept that needs more clarity to improve its understanding. Research purpose: In this paper, the construct of meaning is deconstructed to develop a lexicon of the respective meanings of meaning, especially as they apply to the domain of work. Motivation for the study: Descriptions of the various meanings of meaning tend to be lost across many different journal articles and books. More clarity regarding the meanings of meaning and how they compare and relate with each other is essential to promote valid research and influential practice in this field. Research approach/design and method: Theoretical research is conducted through a literature study and the meanings of meaning are determined through theory synthesis and topical analyses. Main findings: Meaning is a multidimensional construct, especially as it applies to the work context. The concept of meaning in life is distinct and should be distinguished from related concepts, such as the meaning of work, meaning at work, meaning in work, and meaningful work. Practical/managerial implications: By clarifying meanings of meaning, the lexicon provides a unique reference work for scholars, and an essential guide for practitioners in the fields of psychology, industrial and organisational psychology, and even psychiatry, who aspire to advance and promote meaningfulness in their work contexts. Contribution/value-add: As far as could be established, this is the first lexicon of the meanings of meaning in one easy-to-use compendium, for accurate comparison and reference.

Psychological impact of a country-wide lockdown. Role of personal, behavioral, social, and physical conditions on negative and positive affect and meaning in life

During the early outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, a strict home lockdown was maintained in Spain for more than 50 days, disrupting social and economic activities. The aim of this study is to explore affective and well-being responses during the initial period of mandatory home lockdown. Specifically, we analyzed: 1) differences in risk perception according to sociodemographic and health profile;2) relation between social and environmental characteristics of home isolation, positive and negative affect and meaning in life;and 3) the relationship between activities and behaviors performed by people under lockdown and well-being. A total of 1343 Spanish residents participated in this correlational and cross-sectional study. Results show a significant relationship between health and economic risk perception associated with confinement. Higher health risk perception was identified among the older population and those belonging to high-risk groups. High resilience was linked to lower negative affect and greater positive affect and meaning in life. Regarding social and environmental characteristics of home isolation, people living with others reported greater negative affect than people living alone and the daily frequency of use of open-air spaces was linked to positive affect. Higher positive affect and meaning in life were also reported in people who frequently participated in community activities or by helping others. Lower negative affect was only associated with physical exercise. © 2022, Sociedad Interamericana de Psicologia. All rights reserved.

Mental health in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal examination of the ameliorating effect of meaning salience.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, various restrictions forced people around the world to socially isolate. People were asked to stay at home and were largely unable to do many of the activities that they derived meaning from. Since meaning is often related to mental health, these restrictions were likely to decrease mental health. The current study aimed to examine these effects and additionally benefit individuals' mental health by making their meaning salient. Specifically, the goal of the research was to design an intervention that could counter the potential negative effects of social distancing. We recruited a total of 96 U.S.A. residents (M age = 34.45, 92.7% Female) and assigned them to either the control group or to a meaning salience intervention. That is, participants either focused on the meaning of their daily activities (n = 45) or did not participate in any study-related activities during the week (n = 51). They completed various measures of mental health before and after this experimental period. Results suggested that the control group reported significantly greater anxiety, depression, and stress at the end of the week. In contrast, the experimental group reported less anxiety and trended toward less depression and stress at the end of that same week. In all, results suggest that simply focusing on one's daily activities and the meaning found in them protected people from the otherwise detrimental effects of the restrictions. This provides a promising and simple intervention that may assist both individuals and practitioners aiming to improve mental health, especially in challenging times.

The Mediating Effect of Perceived Social Support and Medical Coping Modes Between Psychological Resilience and Meaning in Life in COVID-19 Patients.

Aim: Assess the level of meaning in life of patients with COVID-19, explore the relationship among COVID-19 patients in perceived social support, medical coping modes, psychological resilience and life meaning, and clarify the mediating effect. Methods: Through the convenience sampling method, 144 COVID-19 patients were selected in the year 2021, and surveyed by using general information questionnaire, perceived social support scale (PSSS), medical coping modes questionnaire (MCMQ), meaning in life questionnaire (MLQ) and Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC). After the collected data were preprocessed by SPSS, the t-tests, multiple comparison and Pearson coefficient were respectively used for comparative analysis, difference analysis and correlation analysis. Based on the above analysis, the structural equation model of perceived social support, medical coping modes, psychological resilience and meaning in life of COVID-19 patients was established by Amos. Results: COVID-19 patient's score of meaning in life, perceived social support, medical coping modes and psychological resilience are higher than the medium level. The gender and the place of treatment have significant differences in the meaning of life and perceived social support respectively. The patient's sense of life meaning it is closely and positively related to the perceived social support, medical coping modes and psychological resilience. Psychological resilience indirectly affects the sense of life meaning through medical coping modes and perceived social support. Conclusion: The life meaning can be improved by strengthening the perceived social support. The high level of perceived social support was conducive to the patient to think about life from a positive perspective. Family, government, enterprise and others should give patients certain care and warmth, make them feel more support from all walks of life. In addition, the life meaning can also be enhanced through the impact of psychological resilience on medical coping modes. So, care-givers can take some proper psychological interventions to patients.

Prosocial behavior predicts meaning in life during the COVID-19 pandemic: The longitudinal mediating role of perceived social support.

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unexpected, long-term negative event. Meaning in life has been linked to better psychological adjustment to such events. The current study uses longitudinal data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic to discover whether perceived social support mediates the relationship between six dimensions of prosocial behavior (Altruistic, Anonymous, Public, Compliant, Emotional, and Dire) and meaning in life. A sample of Chinese college students (N = 514) was tracked at three time points (T1, T2, and T3) during the COVID-19 outbreak. A cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) was used for mediation analysis. The mediation effect was found in all the dimensions of prosocial behavior except for Public prosocial behavior. We also found a longitudinal, bidirectional association between perceived social support and meaning in life. The current study contributes to the growing literature on the significance of prosocial behavior in predicting meaning in life.

How the COVID-19 Pandemic and its Consequences Affect the Presence of and Search for Meaning of Life: A Longitudinal Study.

The presence of meaning in life (PML) and the search for meaning in life (SML) are crucial when facing difficult times. Although several theoretical frameworks have tried to explain the dynamics of meaning in life during adversity, empirical evidence about interactions among both constructs using longitudinal designs is scarce. This study examined the trajectories of both PML and SML during the COVID-19 lockdown period in Spain. In total, 220 adults fulfilled an online survey during two periods: a strict and a relaxed lockdown period. Latent growth models showed that both PML and SML declined slightly during the strict lockdown, but they reached a plateau during the relaxed lockdown. Results also showed that age and having a partner predicted higher PML and lower SML at baseline, whereas being male predicted higher scores on PML. PML and SML were negatively associated at baseline, higher SML at baseline was related to a steeper decreasing PML slope during the strict lockdown, and the PML and SML slopes in the relaxed lockdown period were negatively related. This study contributes to better understanding longitudinal fluctuations of meaning in life in situations of adversity.

Psychometric properties of the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 among Hong Kong young adults in 2021: Associations with meaning in life and suicidal ideation.

Background: Young adults in Hong Kong are subject to elevated psychological distress given the societal stressors such as civil unrest and COVID-19 pandemic and suicide is a leading cause of death among them. The present study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) as a brief measure of psychological distress and its associations with meaning in life and suicidal ideation (SI) in young adults. Materials and methods: A mobile survey recruited a large and random sample of 1,472 young adults (Mean age = 26.3 years, 51.8% males) in Hong Kong in 2021. The participants completed the PHQ-4 and Meaning in Life Questionnaire-short form (MLQ-SF) for presence of meaning in life (MIL), SI, COVID-19 impact, and exposure to suicide. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the factorial validity, reliability, and measurement invariance of PHQ-4 and MLQ-SF across gender, age, and distress subgroups. Multigroup structural equation model evaluated and compared the direct and indirect effects of latent MIL factor on SI via latent PHQ-4 factor across distress groups. Results: Both MIL and PHQ-4 supported a 1-factor model with good composite reliability (Ω = 0.80-0.86) and strong factor loadings (λ = 0.65-0.88). Both factors showed scalar invariance across gender, age, and distress groups. MIL showed significant and negative indirect effects (αß = -0.196, 95% CI = -0.254 to -0.144) on SI via PHQ-4. PHQ-4 showed a stronger mediating role between MIL and SI in the distress group (Δ = -0.146, 95% CI = -0.252 to -0.049) than the non-distress group. Higher MIL predicted higher likelihoods of help-seeking (Odds ratios = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.14-1.88). Conclusion: The present results support adequate psychometric properties in terms of factorial validity, reliability, convergent validity, and measurement invariance for the PHQ-4 in young adults in Hong Kong. The PHQ-4 demonstrated a substantial mediating role in the relationship between meaning in life and SI in the distress group. These findings support clinical relevance for using the PHQ-4 as a brief and valid measure of psychological distress in the Chinese context.

The effect of mortality salience on consumers' preference for experiential purchases and its mechanism

Inevitably, consumers will be exposed to death-related information in their daily lives. For example, they are informed about deaths and injuries caused by accidents, terrorism and disasters on social media. They may also encounter the experiences of deceased friends and relatives or the news of unfortunate strangers. Especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are more frequently exposed to death cues. Researches have shown that consumers' decision-makings and purchasing behaviors shift when dealing with death threats. Compared to material consumption, experiential consumption delivers greater and persistent well-being and it is emerging as an extremely important consumption pattern. It is unclear, however, whether these mortality cues will exert positive or negative effects on consumers' preference for experiential purchases. Based on the meaning maintenance model, 4 studies were conducted to examine how mortality salience influences consumers' preference for experiential purchases. In Study 1a and Study 1b, we experimentally manipulated mortality salience and examined its effect on consumers' preference for experiential purchases. Study 1a (N = 140) was a single factor (mortality salience) between-subjects design, participants were randomly assigned to different groups to imagine about incurable infectious disease or dental surgery. Participants in Study 1b (N = 252) were instructed to write about death or dental pain. Study 2 (N =219) was designed to test the mediating role of meaning in life. Participants were required to read a news report concerning traffic accident or dental surgery, and then finish the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Study 3 (N = 166) was a 2 (mortality salience vs. control condition) × 2 (social support: high level vs. low level) between-subjects design. Participants were provided a news report pertaining to the global fatalities under the COVID-19 pandemic in mortality salience condition, and pertaining to global tourism during the pandemic period in the control condition. Social support was manipulated by writing in detail a difficult situation "in which your family or friends accompanied you", or "in which you had to face all by yourself". Additionally, we used a single-paper meta-analysis (SPM) to document a robust effect across all studies. The main results of this study are as follows: (1) Exposed to mortality salience will lead to stronger preference for experiential purchases. (2) The effects seem to be driven by meaning in life, whereby exposure to mortality salience undermines consumers' meaning in life, and consumers will gravitate towards experiential consumption to enhance their impaired meaning. (3) Social support moderates the effect of mortality salience on meaning in life. Only when consumers received low level of social support, will mortality salience reduce their meaning in life. (4) Social support moderates the mediating effect of meaning in life on mortality salience and preference for experiential purchases. Specifically, meaning in life mediates the effect of mortality salience on preference for experiential purchases only when consumers received low social support. To enhance the overall validity, we performed a single-paper meta-analysis (SPM) on the four studies. The SPM showed that consumers had greater preference of experiential purchase when exposed to mortality salience (Estimate β = 0.30, SE = 0.07, z = 4.178, p < 0.001), which strengthened the robustness of our general conclusion. This research yields practical implications by demonstrating that mortality salience exerts positive effect on consumers' preference for experiential purchases, which enables us to identify the changes in consumption patterns and mindset under the pandemic, providing references for marketing and promotion strategies. © Science Press.

Photographic intervention effect on positive and negative affects during COVID-19: Mediating role of future self-continuity.

Meaning in Life (MIL) is a protective factor that buffers the impact of COVID-19 epidemic on emotions. Our study aimed to explore whether photographic intervention based on MIL could increase Positive Affect (PA) and mitigate Negative Affect (NA), and whether Future Self-Continuity (FSC) functioned as a mediator between them. In this study, 90 college students were randomly divided into an intervention group or a control group. Participants in the intervention group were asked to take a photo and describe it every 2 days lasting 2 weeks. All the participants in the two groups were measured by the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, Positive and Negative Affect Scale, and Future Self-Continuity Scale before and after the intervention. The results showed that: (1) Before the intervention, there were no significant differences in baseline levels of MIL, PA and NA, and FSC between intervention and control groups. (2) In the intervention group, compared to pre-test, the scores of MIL, PA, and FSC of post-test increased significantly, and the score of NA of post-test decreased significantly. (3) After the intervention, the scores of MIL, PA, and FSC in the intervention group were significantly higher than those in the control group; NA score in the intervention group was significantly lower than that in the control group. (4) In terms of the difference score (post-test minus pre-test), FSC was a mediator between MIL and PA. Our study demonstrated that photographic intervention could effectively improve college students' MIL, PA, and FSC while mitigating NA. Moreover, MIL could significantly enhance PA by the mediating role of FSC.

Sense of community, meaning in life, and satisfaction with life among Ultra-Orthodox Jews: A mediation model.

The Ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, characterized by close-knit ties and strong community values, has been particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, both epidemiologically and socially. Accordingly, the current study examined whether the connection between the sense of community and life satisfaction in this population is mediated by meaning in life (MIL). Three hundred and fifty-eight Ultra-Orthodox participants (age range: 30-70; M = 49.50, SD = 10.24) filled out scales assessing MIL, sense of community, and satisfaction with life (SWL), as well as sociodemographic and COVID-19-related scales. Sense of community was linked with increased MIL and life satisfaction. Moreover, the connection between sense of community and life satisfaction was mediated by MIL. This study highlights the roles of sense of community and MIL for Ultra-Orthodox individuals and emphasizes the importance of both concepts for maintaining SWL during COVID-19. Practical implications for Ultra-Orthodox communities are suggested.

The role of meaning in life in psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Meaning in life may function as a protective factor in the context of potentially traumatic experiences, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated the associations between meaning and psychological distress (i.e., depression, anxiety, COVID-19-related PTSD) prospectively and cross-sectionally. We hypothesized that meaning inversely predicts peri-pandemic distress and that meaning moderates the association between being negatively affected by the pandemic and distress. We additionally explored cross-sectional associations between meaning subcomponents and distress and a meaning violations perspective. METHODS: Undergraduate students (N = 109) completed questionnaires before (October 2019 to March 2020; meaning, anxiety) and during the pandemic (April to June 2020; meaning, meaning subcomponents, depression, anxiety, PTSD). RESULTS: Correcting for family-wise errors, meaning prospectively predicted less depression and anxiety, but not PTSD. Correcting for family-wise errors, peri-pandemic meaning was consistently related with peri-pandemic distress. Meaning did not moderate the link between being affected by the pandemic and distress. The meaning subcomponent comprehension was most strongly related with distress and a meaning violations perspective was partly supported. CONCLUSION: Meaning emerged as a significant correlate of peri-pandemic distress. Current findings should be replicated longitudinally and experimentally to establish their robustness and to examine the causal influence of meaning on distress.

Relationships Between Mental Health, Emotion Regulation, and Meaning in Life of Frontline Nurses During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

Background: The sporadic outbreak of COVID-19 and the constant mutation of the virus have put the public in panic. Frontline nurses' appropriate emotional regulation and mental health are the key to win the victory of fighting against the epidemic. The relationships between these variables directly influence the availability of human resources to combat COVID-19. Objective: To investigate the relationship between meaning in life, emotional regulation, and mental health of frontline nurses during the Delta virus epidemic. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in August 2021 among 105 nurses from the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China, who were deployed at the COVID-19 units in Zhangjiajie People's Hospital. The Chinese Meaning in Life Questionnaire, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Psychological Questionnaire for Emergent Events of Public Health were used to evaluate their meaning in life, emotion regulation, and mental health. Their correlation and the moderating effect of emotion regulation were conducted. Results: In total, 105 (100%) nurses responded. There were 14 men and 91 women and the mean age was (30.295 ± 4.653) years. The average score of meaning in life and mental health of frontline nurses was 49.971 ± 6.386 and 2.755 ± 2.580, respectively. The meaning in life of frontline nurses was positively correlated with cognitive reappraisal and negatively correlated with expressive suppression and mental health. Mental health was negatively correlated with cognitive reappraisal and positively correlated with expressive suppression. The emotional regulation of frontline nurses has a moderating effect between meaning in life and mental health. Conclusion: Meaning in life and emotion regulation of frontline nurses were significantly correlated with mental health under the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Changing the emotion regulation of frontline nurses, strengthening cognitive reappraisal, and weakening expressive suppression could reduce the predictive effect of meaning in life on mental health.

Finding meaning from the present and future: The mediating role of meaning in life between temporal focus and mental health

Literature has shown that temporal focus (TF) is closely related to mental health, and both of them are associated with meaning in life (MIL). Nevertheless, few studies have investigated the functional role of MIL in the relationship between TF and mental health, especially in the context of COVID-19. The present study aims to explore the mediating role of MIL between different categories of TF (i.e., past, present, and future TF) and mental health. A two-wave longitudinal survey was conducted among 538 Chinese participants aged between 22 and 70 (M ± SD = 35.07 ± 8.82). TF was assessed at Time 1, while MIL, anxiety, and life satisfaction were measured at Time 2. The results of SEM showed that past TF negatively predicted MIL, while present and future TF positively predicted MIL. In addition, MIL mediated the relationship between TF and mental health indicators (anxiety and life satisfaction). Specifically, past TF demonstrated a negative indirect effect on life satisfaction by reducing MIL, while present and future TF had a positive indirect effect on life satisfaction by strengthening MIL. In contrast, past TF demonstrated a positive indirect effect on anxiety by reducing MIL, while present and future TF had a negative indirect effect on anxiety by strengthening MIL. Therefore, the present results supported the positive roles of present and future TF in promoting MIL and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the MIL intervention during the pandemic, the present findings suggested that compared to recalling the past, more attention should be paid to living in the present and hoping for the future. © The Author(s) 2022.

Meaning in life and health behavior habits during the COVID-19 pandemic: Mediating role of health values and moderating role of conscientiousness.

An increasing number of studies have explored health behavior changes since the COVID-19 outbreak, however, the potential mechanism leading to the acquisition of COVID-19-related health behavior habits remains largely underexplored. The current study aimed to investigate how meaning in life contributed to the Chinese general public's acquisition of COVID-19-related health behavior habits, and whether health values would play a mediating role and conscientiousness would play a further moderating role in this relation. A total of 1024 Chinese participants (age range = 17-63 years; 67.29% females) were recruited by posting flyers on an open-access web forum. All participants voluntarily completed a series of online anonymous questionnaires assessing conscientiousness, meaning in life, health values and health behavior habits. Results showed that (1) the majority of the respondents reported the acquisition of COVID-19-related health behavior habits, and meaning in life positively predicted COVID-19-related health behavior habits; (2) health values mediated the link between meaning in life and health behavior habits; and (3) conscientiousness moderated the indirect effect, such that the indirect effect was stronger among individuals with low conscientiousness. These findings have important implications for revealing the reconstruction of the Chinese public's health behavior habits and its potential mechanism that meaning in life influences health behavior habits through health values during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for individuals with low conscientiousness.

The effect of mortality salience on consumers' preference for experiential purchases and its mechanism

Inevitably, consumers will be exposed to death-related information in their daily lives. For example, they are informed about deaths and injuries caused by accidents, terrorism and disasters on social media. They may also encounter the experiences of deceased friends and relatives or the news of unfortunate strangers. Especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are more frequently exposed to death cues. Researches have shown that consumers' decision-makings and purchasing behaviors shift when dealing with death threats. Compared to material consumption, experiential consumption delivers greater and persistent well-being and it is emerging as an extremely important consumption pattern. It is unclear, however, whether these mortality cues will exert positive or negative effects on consumers’ preference for experiential purchases. Based on the meaning maintenance model, 4 studies were conducted to examine how mortality salience influences consumers' preference for experiential purchases. In Study 1a and Study 1b, we experimentally manipulated mortality salience and examined its effect on consumers’ preference for experiential purchases. Study 1a (N = 140) was a single factor (mortality salience) between-subjects design, participants were randomly assigned to different groups to imagine about incurable infectious disease or dental surgery. Participants in Study 1b (N = 252) were instructed to write about death or dental pain. Study 2 (N =219) was designed to test the mediating role of meaning in life. Participants were required to read a news report concerning traffic accident or dental surgery, and then finish the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Study 3 (N = 166) was a 2 (mortality salience vs. control condition) × 2 (social support: high level vs. low level) between-subjects design. Participants were provided a news report pertaining to the global fatalities under the COVID-19 pandemic in mortality salience condition, and pertaining to global tourism during the pandemic period in the control condition. Social support was manipulated by writing in detail a difficult situation "in which your family or friends accompanied you", or "in which you had to face all by yourself". Additionally, we used a single-paper meta-analysis (SPM) to document a robust effect across all studies. The main results of this study are as follows: (1) Exposed to mortality salience will lead to stronger preference for experiential purchases. (2) The effects seem to be driven by meaning in life, whereby exposure to mortality salience undermines consumers' meaning in life, and consumers will gravitate towards experiential consumption to enhance their impaired meaning. (3) Social support moderates the effect of mortality salience on meaning in life. Only when consumers received low level of social support, will mortality salience reduce their meaning in life. (4) Social support moderates the mediating effect of meaning in life on mortality salience and preference for experiential purchases. Specifically, meaning in life mediates the effect of mortality salience on preference for experiential purchases only when consumers received low social support. To enhance the overall validity, we performed a single-paper meta-analysis (SPM) on the four studies. The SPM showed that consumers had greater preference of experiential purchase when exposed to mortality salience (Estimate β = 0.30, SE = 0.07, z = 4.178, p < 0.001), which strengthened the robustness of our general conclusion. This research yields practical implications by demonstrating that mortality salience exerts positive effect on consumers' preference for experiential purchases, which enables us to identify the changes in consumption patterns and mindset under the pandemic, providing references for marketing and promotion strategies. © Science Press.