ABSTRACT
Previous studies have indicated that adolescents understand the concept of meaning in life and can apply it to their lives. In this study we examined how religious adolescents differ in their self-reports of meaning in life compared to adolescents previously studied. It is expected that adolescents in a Christian community more frequently attribute their meaning in life to beliefs than will adolescents in the non-Christian population. 81 adolescents from a religious summer camp reported commitment to a belief as their strongest personal meaning more frequently than any other category when reported in a free-response essay format, whereas no adolescents in the previous study reported belief as their strongest meaning.
Subject(s)
Concept Formation , Existentialism , Psychology, Adolescent , Adolescent , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Personality Development , Personality InventoryABSTRACT
PIP: This is the second report of a multinational project undertaken in 1988 by the International Round Table for the Advancement of Counseling that sought, among other things, to compare and contrast the reported problems, coping strategies, and help-seeking behavior of 2129 male and 2307 female adolescents from a total of three different socioeconomic backgrounds in each of 16 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan Kuwait, the Netherlands, the Philippines, China, Puerto Rico, Turkey, the US, and Venezuela) and from a "classless" background in Russia. The first report described the study and research methodology and cited preliminary findings that 1) problems and coping strategies tended to be universal and age-related; 2) impoverished subjects from Brazil, India, the Philippines, and Venezuela had more problems than any other adolescents; 3) problems were usually related to school, family, and identity rather than to sexuality; and 4) the most common coping strategy was individual problem-solving. This report compares male/female identification of up to three problems that cause worry, response to such problems, and help-seeking behavior. All adolescents cited problems in school, identity, and family. Males and females reported similar coping strategies and showed a strong dependence on individual coping strategies. Both males and females choose personal friends and family members as those most likely to help with problems. Males exhibited a higher percentage of problems related to school and a lower percentage of family problems. Russian adolescents reported more problems relating to altruism than any other group, especially males. These results imply that strong similarities exist for males and females, and the findings are worrisome in that problems related to sexuality were not cited. Counselors should expect the concerns of adolescents to be developmentally related and to overwhelm gender differences.^ieng
