Meaning-in-Life Profiles among Chinese Late Adolescents: Associations with Readiness for Political Participation

Abstract

This study explored the association between meaning in life and readiness for political participation based on meaning-in-life profiles among Chinese late adolescents. A total of 1030 college students (mean age = 19.69 ± 1.47 years) in Hong Kong participated in this study. First, we used a cluster analysis to investigate meaning-in-life profiles based on two dimensions: “presence of meaning” and “search for meaning”. Furthermore, we investigated the association between meaning profiles and readiness for political participation. Results revealed three distinguishable profiles, which emerged in both male and female adolescents. Students with “high-presence” and “high-search” attributes and students with “low-presence” and “high-search” characteristics showed greater readiness to engage in normative and non-normative political actions than did those with a “high-presence” and “low-search” profile. Our research fills the research gap on meaning profiles in Asian adolescents and provides the empirical basis for an alternative account of youth political participation.

The influence of gratitude on pre-service teachers’ career goal self-efficacy: Chained intermediary analysis of meaning in life and career calling

“…An example of items includes “I know the meaning of my life”; the higher the score is, the higher the MIL. The scale has been widely used in China; the original alpha is 0.87 ( Steger et al, 2006 ), and the Chinese version is from 0.70 to 0.90 ( Zhang et al, 2019a ; Lin and Shek, 2021 ; Ding et al, 2022 ), showing good reliability and validity, and it was 0.79 in our study. The estimate of ω was 0.77, and the fitting index of the model was proved to be ideal (RMSEA = 0.068, CFI = 0.958, NFI = 0.947, IFI = 0.958) by CFA in our study.…”

Promotion of Meaning in Life and Wellbeing Among University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic via a Service-Learning Subject

“…MIL was measured by the 5-item subscale of “presence of meaning” in the “Meaning in Life Questionnaire” ( 12 ), which has been translated into Chinese and widely employed in different Chinese samples ( 2 , 28 ). Students reported the degree of their agreement with the five statements about the presence of meaning (e.g., “My life has a clear sense of purpose”) on a 6-point scale (“1” = “strongly disagree,” “6” = “strongly agree”).…”

“…They also face the developmental challenge of taking on new civic roles and greater responsibilities and finding meaning and purpose in these roles (1). Those who ineffectively cope with stress and challenges may suffer from dysfunctional outcomes, such as loss of meaning, emotional distress, low wellbeing, and behavioral problems (2)(3)(4). This concern for university students' development has been further intensified by the spreading of COVID-19 since early 2020, which has a significant impact on higher education.…”

Psychological Morbidity among University Students in Hong Kong (2014–2018): Psychometric Properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) and Related Correlates

“…Thus, different cohorts of young people may display different levels of psychological morbidity in response to the political events they experience. Unfortunately, few studies have examined how political factors may influence adolescent development [24].…”