The Contribution of Meaning Making and Religiosity to Individuals' Psychological Wellbeing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prosocial Orientation Matters

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected individuals' psychological well-being worldwide, thus representing a challenge for flourishing among emerging adults. To understand psychological processes involved in the positive adaptation to this challenge, the present study examined the role of meaning in life and religious identity as crucial resources for flourishing in a sample of 255 Italian emerging adults. Specifically, as in the midst of a stressful event individuals may experience the potential for flourishing through the process of search for meaning, the study examined the mediated role of existential, spiritual/religious and prosocial orientations as the three primary trajectories for building meaning. Results from path analytic mediation models revealed a positive influence of presence of meaning and in-depth exploration on flourishing. Findings also suggested the contribution of prosocial orientation in building meaning and, ultimately, in increasing flourishing. Implications are discussed. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Europe's Journal of Psychology is the property of Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

The Up-Side of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Are Core Belief Violation and Meaning Making Associated with Post-Traumatic Growth?

The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health has been extensively documented, while its possible positive impact on the individual, defined as Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG), has been much less investigated. The present study examines the association between PTG and socio-demographic aspects, pre-pandemic psychological adjustment, stressors directly linked to COVID-19 and four psychological factors theoretically implicated in the change processes (core belief violation, meaning-making, vulnerability and mortality perception). During the second wave of the pandemic 680 medical patients completed an online survey on direct and indirect COVID-19 stressors, health and demographic information, post-traumatic growth, core belief violation, meaning-making capacity, feelings of vulnerability and perceptions of personal mortality. Violation of core beliefs, feelings of vulnerability and mortality, and pre-pandemic mental illness positively correlated with post-traumatic growth. Moreover, the diagnosis of COVID-19, stronger violation of core beliefs, greater meaning-making ability, and lower pre-existing mental illness predicted greater PTG. Finally, a moderating effect of meaning-making ability was found. The clinical implications were discussed.

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.

COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of cross-cultural differences on crisis management: A conceptual model of transcultural crisis management

In this paper, leadership tasks and stakeholder response during transboundary crisis management are analyzed based on findings from Hofstede's study, GLOBE Project, and theoretical concepts in cross-cultural management. Accordingly, a conceptual model of transcultural crisis management is proposed. Seven propositions (P) and sixteen sub-propositions (SP) are developed and then tested using the case method. The case of the COVID-19 pandemic is studied to note the effects of cross-cultural differences and intercultural communication in the pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis stages. Cross-cultural differences are found to affect sense-making, decision-making, sense-giving and meaning-making during pre-crisis and crisis management stages. Implications of these findings and further research agenda are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Perinatal meaning-making and meaning-focused coping in the COVID-19 pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented levels of stress amongst pregnant women and new mothers. The current qualitative study explored the ways in which perinatal women made meaning of their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Data came from a parent study in which 54 perinatal (pregnant and postpartum) women in the United States completed semi-structured interviews from October 2021 to January 2022 describing their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data was interpreted using a hermeneutic, phenomenological approach to delve deeply into the concept of meaning-making. RESULTS: Despite high levels of stress and challenging circumstances, participants reported engaging in meaning-making through finding connection, focusing on gratitude, and identifying openings for change. Unique forms of meaning-making amongst this population include a sense of connection to women throughout history, connection to their baby, and recognition of the need for systemic change for perinatal women. CONCLUSIONS: Perinatal women coped with the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic by making meaning from their experiences. Future research should further explore the importance of these aspects of meaning-making to perinatal women and implement these findings to adapt prevention and treatment approaches to address perinatal stress, especially during times of crisis.

Self-quarantine: Deepening natural encounter during COVID-19

The word "quarantine" might conjure up negative associations;for instance, a youth may be given "time-out" as punishment for unruly behavior. A time-out creates space for reflection on one's actions and strips away the positive reinforcement linked to social stimulation. This chapter has two sections. The first section, "Mortality and Ecocide", explores the existential ramifications of how COVID self-quarantine suddenly and dramatically eliminated work hours for workers who were viewed as nonessential. The second section, "Symbolism and Deepening of Existential Encounter", delves into personal mythology study to further understand the human situation on the planet in relation to fear of death and the need for power. The chapter explores how human behavioral changes due to dysfunction correspond with the human meaning-making process and how we construct personal myths. Becker's exposition on death anxiety suggests that, in part, humans crave to unveil the meaning of life to mitigate the existential tension at times caused by the inevitability of death. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Agentic meaning-making: Free will beliefs, sense-making, and psychological distress following collective traumas

Meaning-making is an important component in the psychological recovery from collective traumas. However, not enough is known about what individual differences might facilitate meaning-oriented approaches to coping and recovering from traumas. We predicted that free will beliefs, which afford people the perception of volitional autonomy over their actions, would be an important antecedent to sense-making and meaning-focused coping. We tested this conceptual hypothesis in the context of two distinct collective traumas. In Study 1 (n = 342), the comprehension facet of meaning in life (which is the facet most related to sense-making) mediated the relationship between free will beliefs and lower psychological distress related to the COVID-19 global pandemic. In Study 2 (n = 571), meaning-focused coping, but not other coping styles, mediated the relationship between free will beliefs and psychological recovery (i.e., lower distress over time) in a longitudinal sample collected in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. We interpreted our findings as robust support for our hypothesis, the strength of which is bolstered by the distinct settings and methodologies with which the data were collected. We conclude by discussing our results in relation to the view that free will beliefs afford a more agentic approach to meaning-making, which ultimately facilities more effective psychological recovery from collective trauma. © 2022

Bringing Covid to College: Incoming First-Year College Students' Making Meaning of the Pandemic

As time passes from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, new cohorts of emerging adults transition to college, carrying with them experiences and effects of the pandemic on their lives and development. This study uses semi-structured interviews and reflexive thematic analysis to investigate how a cohort of 36 young people made narrative meaning of the pandemic in relation to their identities. Data were collected at the beginning of their first year at college and focused on their experiences of the pandemic, its impact on their lives, and the lessons they took away from it. Findings demonstrate that even amid deep and varied challenges, young people coped in nuanced ways and some built narratives of personal growth, development, new social identities, and maturing values. The study contributes to greater depth in understanding the impacts of the pandemic on young people as they develop into emerging adults. © 2023 Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood and SAGE Publishing.

Korean immigrant parents' ways and reasons to support their elementary-aged children's mathematical meaning-making at home during the COVID-19 pandemic

U.S. society perceived some Asian immigrants as a model minority, even assuming that Asian students would be good at mathematics. However, the narratives and experiences of Korean immigrant parents and their children were not discussed in these perspectives. The purpose of this study is to understand the interactions and reasoning of Korean immigrant parents about their children's mathematical meaning-making at home. The study investigates the following research questions: How do Korean immigrant parents of elementary-aged students support their children's mathematical meaning-making at home during the COVID-19 pandemic? Why do Korean immigrant parents of elementary-aged students support their children's mathematical meaning-making at home during the COVID-19 pandemic? Using the theory of belonging, model minority stereotypes, and meaning-making, this study critically examines Korean immigrant parents and children how and why negotiate the meaning of U.S. mathematics. Narrative inquiry is used to understand the diverse experiences of the five participants' families through interviews, observations, and debrief sessions. The findings report how and why Korean immigrant parents support their children's mathematical meaning-making using code-switching and cultural negotiation that addresses conceptual differences across language and culture. On a personal level, Korean immigrant parents' desire to belong in U.S. society guides them to put effort into their children's education. On a societal level, the parents in this study wish for their children to overcome perpetual foreigner stereotypes, myths, and glass ceilings around them. Yet because of their limited connectedness to mainstream society, they feel they lack the information needed for their children to be successful. Their voices demystify the model minority stereotypes and counter the argument that mathematics education serves as an absolutely inclusive subject. Recommendations from this point on the school districts and educational system are to have explanatory sessions for immigrant parents to help their understanding of the U.S. curriculum, and at the same time, teachers also can take advantage by having listening sessions about multiple ethnic parents to learn the cultural meaning-making to make a connection between school children and their culture in the curriculum. Furthermore, the higher education system could recruit more diverse pre-service teachers to create more belonging for diverse learners. Last but not least, school teachers can learn and practice immigrant experiences and try to demystify racial stereotypes in classrooms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Islamic Civilizations and Plagues: The Role of Religion, Faith and Psychology During Pandemics.

The current study seeks to analyze Muslim experiences of communicative diseases with a focus on the psychosocial impacts and public, communal, and personal responses of Muslim populations throughout history. By examining a selection of plague outbreaks between the 8-19th centuries across the lands broadly defined as the Islamic Mediterranean (Varlik, 2017), the guidelines and coping mechanisms that Muslims extracted from their traditional sources are highlighted. This historical perspective contributes to a better understanding of the psychological and social aspects of pandemics for the Muslim community, specifically for the role played by faith and spirituality as determinants of psychological well-being in Muslims' perceptions and responses. We suggest that such an understanding is especially useful for contemporary mental health practitioners working with Muslim patients through the global COVID-19 pandemic.

From reductive to generative crisis: businesspeople using polysemous justifications to make sense of COVID-19.

Both lay understandings of crisis moments and influential psychological models of cognition in times of uncertainty emphasize how crises limit thinking. Conversely, scholars as diverse as Foucault, Swidler, Bourdieu, and Butler have elaborated generative conceptions of crisis, which specify crises as moments of change, transformation, and heightened cognition. The research presented here takes up the question of how crises become thinkable, as actors gradually make sense of a newly uncertain context. Against a backdrop of polarization on the topic, in-depth interviews with 60 businesspeople navigating the coronavirus pandemic show that they see public health and economic well-being as interrelated. This has important effects on how businesses interpret and implement government directives and public health guidelines, from choosing to close before being mandated to do so, to staying closed even when allowed to reopen. Taken together, these findings substantiate generative models of crisis while drawing attention to the polysemous justifications elaborated by actors as they navigate shifting cultural and social scaffoldings.

Meaning-Making Profiles During Emerging Adulthood: A Person-Oriented Approach in the Context of Romantic and Working Conditions

Empirical evidence supported the existence of different meaning-making profiles among youths, however, it is unknown whether these profiles are related to specific transitional conditions. The present study applied a multi-group Latent Profile Analysis to examine the generalizability and criterion-validity of meaning-making profiles across two samples of emerging and young adults living different contextual situations (pre-COVID-19 vs during COVID-19), and to investigate their association with the balanced versus imbalanced conditions in the romantic and work role transitions. Three meaning-making profiles, searchers (high search, average presence of meaning), in-between (low search, average presence), and fulfilled (very low search, high presence) were supported by strong generalizability and criterion-validity evidence (i.e. fulfilled individuals showed higher well-being). As expected, older individuals were more likely to be fulfilled, while gender wasn't a predictor of profiles. Imbalanced individuals in love and work were more likely to be searchers, while fulfilled individuals were predominantly living a balanced condition. © 2022 Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood and SAGE Publishing.

Psychological Factors Explaining the COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Mental Health: The Role of Meaning, Beliefs, and Perceptions of Vulnerability and Mortality.

This study tested an expanded version of the explanatory model of the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health proposed by Milman and colleagues. Participants (N = 680) completed an online survey on demographic variables associated with poor pandemic mental health, COVID-19 stressors, mental health symptoms, and pandemic-related psychological processes we hypothesized as mediating mechanisms explaining the negative mental health effects of the COVID-19 stressors. Results indicated that these psychological processes (core belief violation, meaning made of the pandemic, vulnerability, and mortality perception) explained the severity of mental health symptoms to a far greater extent than COVID-19 stressors and demographics combined. In addition, these psychological processes mediated the impact of COVID-19 stressors on all mental health outcomes. Specifically, COVID-19 stressors were associated with increased core belief violation, decreased meaning making, and more intense perceived vulnerability and mortality. In turn, those whose core beliefs were more violated by the pandemic, who made less meaning of the pandemic, and who perceived a more pronounced vulnerability and mortality experienced a worse mental health condition. This study's results suggest some possible ways of intervention in pandemic-like events useful for limiting such impact at the individual, group, social and political levels.

Threat Appraisal, Resilience, and Health Behaviors in Recovered COVID-19 Patients: The Serial Mediation of Coping and Meaning-Making.

Research indicates that both cognitive appraisal and personal resources can noticeably influence health behaviors, as individuals modify their health convictions and practices on the basis of threat appraisal, personality, and meaning. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether coping strategies and meaning-making can serially mediate the relationship of threat appraisal and resilience with health behaviors in recovered COVID-19 patients. Self-report measures of threat appraisal, resilience, coping, meaning-making, and health behaviors were completed by 266 participants (aged 17 to 78, 51.5% female) who had recovered from COVID-19. The serial mediation analysis showed that the relationship of threat appraisal and resilience with health behaviors was mediated by problem-focused coping, meaning-focused coping, and meaning-making, but not by emotion-focused coping. These results suggest that associations among threat perception, resilience, and health behavior depend to some extent on the interplay of coping and meaning-making, which reveals their unique role in the process of recovery from COVID-19, with potential implications for health interventions.

Risk Perception of COVID-19, Religiosity, and Subjective Well-Being in Emerging Adults: The Mediating Role of Meaning-Making and Perceived Stress.

The pressured experienced due to COVID-19 for young people has become clearly visible in the domain of well-being. Although the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on emerging adults have been examined, little is known about the role played by risk perception and religiosity for their well-being. In addition, the mediating effects of meaning-making and perceived stress still need to be investigated. A total of 316 emerging adults (143 males and 173 females) participated in the present study. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, we showed that the relationship of risk perception of COVID-19 and religiosity with subjective well-being was largely mediated by meaning-making and perceived stress. However, their mediational roles were different and depended on the interplay of perceptual and religious factors, which can be more fully understood within the meaning-making model. Emerging adults tend to rely on both their personal evaluation of COVID-related risks and religious beliefs to the extent that it helps them understand current life situations and restore cognitive and emotional balance.

Making sense of the crisis: how religion shapes the attribution of meaning during the corona pandemic.

In times of existential crisis, such as the Corona pandemic, people may turn to religious traditions that help them make new sense of the depressing situation. While recent studies have shown that during the Corona pandemic, the frequency of prayer and church attendance increased in several countries, we know little about whether and how religious interpretations of the current crisis occur. Building on Crystal Park's Meaning Making Model, the article examines whether individual religiosity, religious affiliation, and the experience of a SARS-CoV­2 infection influence religious interpretations of the Corona pandemic. Our results show that religiosity is strongly associated with the idea of a benevolent God and weakly associated with the concept of a punishing God. Members of specific religious groups differed significantly in their religious interpretation of the Corona pandemic. Finally, we found that the experience of a SARS-CoV­2 infection was associated with doubts about the power of God.

Growing in Suffering: The Curvilinear Relationship Between Prolonged Grief and Post-traumatic Growth of Recently Bereaved Individual During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges to mourning and growth of bereaved. The purpose is to explore the relationship between the prolonged grief (PG) symptoms and the post-traumatic growth (PTG) of recently bereaved people during the COVID-19 period, and the mediating role of meaning making. 305 participants were recruited to complete the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, Inventory of Complicated Grief, and Integration of Stressful Life Experiences Scale. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses and Medcurve in SPSS were adapted to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that there was a curvilinear relationship between PG and PTG and meaning making had a completely mediating effect on this relationship. Different intervention goals - whether alleviating distress or cultivating growth - should be set up according to the level of grief for recently bereaved individuals during COVID-19. More attention should be paid to the role of meaning making in the future clinical practice.

Agentic Meaning-Making: Free Will Beliefs, Sense-Making, and Psychological Distress Experienced Following Collective Traumas

Meaning-making is an important component in the psychological recovery from collective traumas. However, not enough is known about what individual differences might facilitate meaning-oriented approaches to coping and recovering from traumas. We predicted that free will beliefs, which afford people the perception of volitional autonomy over their actions, would be an important antecedent to sense-making and meaning-focused coping. We tested this conceptual hypothesis in the context of two distinct collective traumas. In Study 1 (n = 342), the comprehension facet of meaning in life (which is the facet most related to sense-making) mediated the relationship between free will beliefs and lower psychological distress related to the COVID-19 global pandemic. In Study 2 (n = 571), meaning-focused coping, but not other coping styles, mediated the relationship between free will beliefs and psychological recovery (i.e., lower distress over time) in a longitudinal sample collected in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. We interpreted our findings as robust support for our hypothesis, the strength of which is bolstered by the distinct settings and methodologies with which the data were collected. We conclude by discussing our results in relation to the view that free will beliefs afford a more agentic approach to meaning-making, which ultimately facilities more effective psychological recovery from collective trauma.

Korean immigrant parents' ways and reasons to support their elementary-aged children's mathematical meaning-making at home during the COVID-19 pandemic

U.S. society perceived some Asian immigrants as a model minority, even assuming that Asian students would be good at mathematics. However, the narratives and experiences of Korean immigrant parents and their children were not discussed in these perspectives. The purpose of this study is to understand the interactions and reasoning of Korean immigrant parents about their children's mathematical meaning-making at home. The study investigates the following research questions: How do Korean immigrant parents of elementary-aged students support their children's mathematical meaning-making at home during the COVID-19 pandemic? Why do Korean immigrant parents of elementary-aged students support their children's mathematical meaning-making at home during the COVID-19 pandemic? Using the theory of belonging, model minority stereotypes, and meaning-making, this study critically examines Korean immigrant parents and children how and why negotiate the meaning of U.S. mathematics. Narrative inquiry is used to understand the diverse experiences of the five participants' families through interviews, observations, and debrief sessions. The findings report how and why Korean immigrant parents support their children's mathematical meaning-making using code-switching and cultural negotiation that addresses conceptual differences across language and culture. On a personal level, Korean immigrant parents' desire to belong in U.S. society guides them to put effort into their children's education. On a societal level, the parents in this study wish for their children to overcome perpetual foreigner stereotypes, myths, and glass ceilings around them. Yet because of their limited connectedness to mainstream society, they feel they lack the information needed for their children to be successful. Their voices demystify the model minority stereotypes and counter the argument that mathematics education serves as an absolutely inclusive subject. Recommendations from this point on the school districts and educational system are to have explanatory sessions for immigrant parents to help their understanding of the U.S. curriculum, and at the same time, teachers also can take advantage by having listening sessions about multiple ethnic parents to learn the cultural meaning-making to make a connection between school children and their culture in the curriculum. Furthermore, the higher education system could recruit more diverse pre-service teachers to create more belonging for diverse learners. Last but not least, school teachers can learn and practice immigrant experiences and try to demystify racial stereotypes in classrooms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Searching for the 'Aha Moments': Healthcare Social Workers' Experiences of Hope and Meaning-Making during COVID-19.

While serving as the leading mental health providers in healthcare systems during COVID-19, social workers have faced numerous career-defining moments, both negative and positive; however, limited research highlights how healthcare social workers process these pivotal professional and personal encounters to find hope and meaning. The purpose of this study was to gather a deeper understanding of how healthcare social workers navigated oppressive healthcare systems, social injustice, and their personal and professional caregiving roles to sustain hope, meaning, and purpose during COVID-19. Participants were recruited through healthcare social work professional organizations from October to December 2020. Participants (N = 54) completed an individual interview over Zoom or telephone. The study incorporated feminist phenomenology to understand how the predominantly female (96%) sample sustained hope amidst institutional, societal, and personal despair. Five themes emerged from social workers' responses: withstanding existential dread; reclaiming family time and community; embracing "aha moments"; answering the call to action; and yearning for normalcy while balancing personal risk. Findings from this study highlight how social workers confronted oppressive systems and gendered social roles to find hope and meaning in the care that they provided for their clients, families, and communities.