Purpose in life, stress mindset, and perceived stress: Test of a mediational model.

Purpose in life is associated with less perceived stress and more positive worldviews. This study examined whether people with more purpose adopt a mindset that views stress as beneficial rather than harmful and whether this mindset is one mechanism between purpose and less stress. We used a short-term longitudinal study (N=2,147) to test stress mindset as a mediator between purpose in life measured prior to the pandemic and stress measured early in the pandemic. We also tested Covid-related worry as a mechanism, given the measurement period spanned pre-pandemic to the first shutdowns in the United States. In contrast to expectations, purpose was unrelated to whether stress was conceptualized as beneficial or harmful (b=.00, SE=.02; p=.710) and thus stress mindset did not mediate the prospective association between purpose and stress. Both purpose in life (b=-.41, SE=.04, p<.001) and stress mindset (b=-.24, SE=.04; p<.001) were independent prospective predictors of stress. Purpose was related to less Covid-related worry, which was a significant mechanism between purpose and stress (indirect effect=-.03, SE=.01; p=.023). A stress-is-enhancing mindset predicted less stress but did not explain why purpose was associated with less perceived stress, whereas fewer Covid-related worries was one pathway from purpose to less stress.

The impact of cyberbullying victimization on psychosocial behaviors among college students during the covid-19 pandemic: The indirect effect of a sense of purpose in life

By drawing from positive psychology and general strain theory, this study examined whether a sense of purpose in life has an indirect effect between college students' cyberbullying victimization and their depressive symptoms, cyberbullying perpetration, and suicidal thoughts/behaviors. Data were collected from 314 college students (69.9% female) aged 18 to 24 and older from two universities in the Midwest and South-central region of the United States. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) identified that cyberbullying victimization was positively associated with depressive symptoms and cyberbullying perpetration. Moreover, cyberbullying victimization indirectly affected depressive symptoms through a sense of purpose in life. This study will emphasize the importance of fostering cyberbullied college students' purpose in life to college staff, administrators, faculty, and practitioners, and will provide them with strategies to develop campus-wide cyberbullying interventions for college students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

MentorOn: A peer mentoring program developed for COVID-19 times.

Burgeoning research has documented COVID-19's detrimental impacts globally, especially on the lives of adolescents. The present study examined the positive influences of a virtual, cross-age peer mentoring program on the development of adolescent participants in the face of the hardships created by the pandemic. In particular, this study focuses on the experiences of high school participants who served as both mentors and mentees in the program. Semi-structured interviews with participating high schoolers (n = 13) were coded and analyzed using the thematic analysis process. The interview data indicated that increased social support, the agency in prosocial pursuits, and greater purpose engagement resulted from their participation in the program. Results are discussed in the context of self-determination theory: youths' needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy. The program met these basic needs among participants which in turn supported purpose exploration during the pandemic.

Meaning Salience and Meaning in Life Prospectively Predict Lower Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic is a widespread source of stress with adverse mental health impacts. Meaning in life, both as a trait and as momentary awareness of what is personally meaningful (meaning salience), is associated with positive health outcomes and may buffer against the deleterious effects of stress. PURPOSE: This project examines prospective associations between baseline meaning salience (daily, post-laboratory stressor) and meaning in life with perceived stress during COVID-19. METHODS: A community sample of healthy adults (n = 147) completed a laboratory stress protocol in 2018-2019, where perceived stress, meaning in life, and meaning salience (daily, post-stressor) were assessed. During April and July 2020 (n = 95, and 97, respectively), participants were re-contacted and reported perceived stress. General linear mixed-effects models accounting for repeated measures of stress during COVID-19 were conducted. RESULTS: Partial correlations holding constant baseline perceived stress showed that COVID-19 perceived stress was correlated with daily meaning salience (r = -.28), post-stressor meaning salience (r = -.20), and meaning in life (r = -.22). In mixed-effects models, daily and post-stressor meaning salience and higher meaning in life, respectively, predicted lower perceived stress during COVID-19, controlling for age, gender, and baseline perceived stress. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals more capable of accessing meaning when exposed to laboratory stress reported lower perceived stress during a global health crisis. Despite study limitations concerning generalizability, results support meaning in life and meaning salience as important aspects of psychological functioning that may promote well-being by affecting stress appraisals and available resources for coping.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a widespread source of stress. Having a sense of meaning in life, or that you have goals in life and a sense that the things you do are worthwhile and significant, is an important part of psychological well-being and might help reduce stress. We collected data on 147 healthy adults in 2018­2019 regarding their stress levels, sense of meaning in life, and how often they were aware of their life's meaning on daily basis and after a stress task in the laboratory. We re-contacted these adults in both April and July 2020 to ask about their stress, and 95 adults responded. Adults who had higher meaning in life in 2018­2019 experienced less stress during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Adults who were more aware of their life's meaning each day and immediately after a stress task in the laboratory also experienced less stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from this study provide evidence that having a strong sense of meaning in life overall and being aware of your life's meaning each day and during times of stress, may promote psychological well-being and reduce stress during times when stress is widespread and abundant.

Purpose in Life and Character Strengths as Predictors of Health Sciences Students' Psychopathology During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Health sciences students experience high levels of psychopathology conditioned by psychosocial, financial, and academic factors. However, COVID-19 pandemic might even have worsened their mental health. Thus, this article aims to evaluate how the exposure to COVID-19 pandemic has affected these students' mental health and to determine the effect of purpose in life and character strengths on this psychopathology. Methods: A cross-sectional study of unpaired samples was carried out in Spain during the first and third waves of the pandemic in 70 medical and 52 nursing students. Results: The risk factor that most determined the appearance of anxiety was the exposure of family and friends to COVID-19 (OR = 4.01; p < 0.001), while the most protective factors were honesty (OR = -1.14; p = 0.025) and purpose in life (OR = -0.18; p < 0.001). Purpose in life also protected against the onset of depression and total psychopathology. In addition, we observed studying medicine was a protective factor against total psychopathology while being a nursing student was associated with high levels of acute stress. Conclusion: Exposure of the students' family and friends to SARS-CoV-2 favored the appearance of symptoms of anxiety. Honesty had a preventing role in the onset of anxiety and a high purpose in life was protective against the appearance of anxiety, depression, and total psychopathology.

Mindfulness and psychological distress in men during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of environmental mastery and purpose in life.

Men's mental health has been severely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many studies focussing on the determinants of men's psychological distress. This study aimed at examining the relationships between mindfulness, environmental mastery (EM), purpose in life (PL) and indicators of psychological distress (i.e., common mental disorders and perceived stress). This was a cross-sectional online study in which participants were 1,006 men aged between 29 and 39 years (45.1%), residing in Brazil during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A parallel multiple mediator model was used to test the study variables' relationships, using mindfulness as the independent variable and indicators of psychological distress as the dependent variables. Results indicated that EM and PL significantly mediated the effects of mindfulness on men's psychological distress, lowering its levels and accounting for 31% of common mental disorders and 51% of perceived stress. Implications for public health policies and clinical practice are discussed.

Burnout, psychopathology and purpose in life in healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in the workload of healthcare workers that, together with the risks associated with exposure to this new virus, has affected their mental health. Objectives: The objective of the current study was to determine the prevalence of psychopathology and burnout syndrome in healthcare workers and the predictive role of purpose in life and moral courage in this relationship. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 115 Spanish healthcare workers. Results: Participants with burnout had higher anxiety (p = 0.001), depression (p < 0.001), post-traumatic stress (p = 0.01) and alcohol consumption (p = 0.03) levels. The different components of burnout (emotional fatigue and despersonalization) were associated with the occurrence of anxiety (OR = 0.31) and depression (OR = 0.26), respectively. A strong purpose in life decreased emotional fatigue (OR = -0.39) depersonalization (OR = -0.23) scores, increased personal accomplishment (OR = 0.52), subsequently reducing burnout levels (OR = -0.45). Conclusions: Purpose in life was most strongly related to decreased levels of burnout. Furthermore, an association between anxiety, depression and the components of burnout was found.

Executive functioning and purpose in life among emerging adults in college

Background: Executive functioning (EF) is a complex neurocognitive concept that grew from the field of neuropsychology and has been explored through various avenues. The most accepted theoretical organization of EF includes a three-factor model that is comprised of inhibition, updating, and shifting. The three-factor conceptualization can be measured through various objective EF neuropsychological assessments and self-reported levels of EF abilities. Goal-planning and organizing cognitive processes are another important facet of EF, as they involve self-regulation abilities. Individuals able to "regulate" themselves behaviorally and move towards goals tend to be more successful and move towards their purpose in life. A facet of positive psychology, purpose has demonstrated extensive benefits including overall general well-being. Additionally, purpose includes concepts that relate to higher-level processes that include relate to the three-factor model of EF: inhibition, updating, and shifting. Despite the commonalities listed between EF and purpose in life, examination of a possible relationship between the two concepts has yet to be undertaken. Methods: To explore the relationship between EF and purpose in life, online self-report measures were administered including the Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale, Short Form (BDEFS-SF), the Claremont Purpose Scale (CPS), the Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSRQ), the Meaning in Life (MLQ), and the Valued Living Questionnaire (VLQ). Objective measures of EF utilizing the Delis-Kaplan Executive Functioning System (D-KEFS) were also obtained through in-lab participation. Results: Pearson r correlations analyses were calculated using BDEFS-SF summary scores and CPS total scores, yielding a significant negative correlation between EF deficits and total perceived purpose. This was followed up by a simple linear regression analyses to further determine the nature and extent of the relationship between the BDEFS-SF subscales on CPS total scores. Resulted indicated less deficits in Self-Management to Time significantly predicted participants' perceived purpose in life as did less deficits in Self-Motivation. Due to COVID-19, only a small number of in-lab participant data was collected, yielding non-significant regression model of D-KEFS subtests on total CPS scores. Discussion: The present findings suggest that a relationship with EF capabilities and purpose in life, such that better EF capabilities were associated with higher levels of perceived purpose in life. Thus, further examination of the overlap between the of neuropsychological and positive psychology concepts and how both can be utilized to inform clinical interventions is warranted. Due to COVID-19 restrictions during the administration of the present study, various limitations regarding objective measure data impacted some results. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

"Healthcare Kamikazes" during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Purpose in Life and Moral Courage as Mediators of Psychopathology.

Although the required personal protective equipment was not available during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Spanish healthcare workers continued to work, being dubbed as 'healthcare kamikazes'. Two possible reasons are moral courage and purpose in life that, in turn, would modulate the appearance of psychopathology. Cross-sectional study was carried out in 90 Spanish and 59 Mexican healthcare professionals, and 56 medical and nursing students. Spanish professionals had suffered more work and overall exposure (M = 8.30; SD = 2.57 and M = 9.03; SD = 2.66) than Mexican (M = 5.10; SD = 1.87 and M = 5.55; SD = 2.35). Mexican professionals had fewer anxiety disorders (30.5%; n = 18) and a lower depression score (M = 4.45; SD = 5.63) than the Spanish (43.7%; n = 38; and M = 8.69; SD = 8.07). Spanish professionals more often experienced acute stress disorder (32.6%; n = 29). Purpose in life, in addition to having a direct protective effect on psychopathology, also modulated the relationship between personal and family exposure and psychopathology. In conclusion, purpose in life protects against the appearance of psychopathology in healthcare workers with personal and family exposure to SARS-CoV-2.

From Shattered Goals to Meaning in Life: Life Crafting in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The novel COVID-19 pandemic has created an extraordinary situation for our generation, with many countries being on lockdown. With this, new situation comes many psychological challenges not only for health care workers and people suffering from COVID-19 but also for the general population. Adapting to the new situation can be demanding. Experts have suggested that emotions during this situation are very similar to grief, and people experience emptiness and sadness about the loss of their normal lives, which can even lead to a loss of meaning in life. In this paper, we argue that life crafting could offer a way to help people cope with the situation and renew their sense of meaning. A life crafting intervention is based on theoretical insights from multiple areas of research, like positive psychology, expressive writing, and the salutogenesis framework. Life-crafting interventions help people find meaning in life by focusing on their ideal future, and helping them set goals, and make concrete plans to achieve those goals and overcome obstacles. Since having a clear purpose or meaning in life has been shown to have many benefits, we propose that it can also help people to cope with the psychological effects of the pandemic. A life-crafting intervention can offer people a chance to evaluate their goals in a time of uncertainty and rediscover meaning in life to guide them through these difficult times.

Psychological well-being among older adults during the COVID-19 outbreak: a comparative study of the young-old and the old-old adults.

The COVID-19 outbreak could be considered as an uncontrollable stressful life event. Lockdown measures have provoked a disruption of daily life with a great impact over older adults' health and well-being. Nevertheless, eudaimonic well-being plays a protective role in confronting adverse circumstances, such as the COVID-19 situation. This study aims to assess the association between age and psychological well-being (personal growth and purpose in life). Young-old (60-70 years) and old-old (71-80 years) community-dwelling Spaniards (N = 878) completed a survey and reported on their sociodemographic characteristics and their levels of health, COVID-19 stress-related, appraisal, and personal resources. Old-old did not evidence poorer psychological well-being than young-old. Age has only a negative impact on personal growth. The results also suggest that the nature of the COVID-19 impact (except for the loss of a loved one) may not be as relevant for the older adults' well-being as their appraisals and personal resources for managing COVID-related problems. In addition, these results suggest that some sociodemographic and health-related variables have an impact on older adults' well-being. Thus, perceived-health, family functioning, resilience, gratitude, and acceptance had significant associations with both personal growth and purpose in life. Efforts to address older adults' psychological well-being focusing on older adults' personal resources should be considered.