The relation of search for and presence of meaning in life to attitudes about death

Kevin Powell

Graduation Date

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Program

Other

Program

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, Psychology: Counseling, 2010

Committee Chair Name

Lizabeth Eckerd

Committee Chair Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Humboldt State University -- Theses -- Psychology, Meaning, Death attitudes

Abstract

Various theories have hypothesized and research has corroborated that individuals who find meaning in life are more accepting of their own mortality. More recently, scholars have noted important distinctions between individuals who report presence of meaning in life versus those who report search for meaning in life. To our knowledge no research has investigated the search for meaning in life as it relates to individual attitudes towards personal mortality. This study investigates the relation of both search for meaning in life and presence of meaning in life to individual attitudes towards death. Our study sample consisted of 106 undergraduate students from Humboldt State University. Participants were administered the Death Attitude Profile-Revised (Wong, Reker, Gesser, 1994) and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (Steger, Oishi, Kaler, 2006). Several directional hypotheses were conceptualized based on previous research findings and a review of the existing literature. It was hypothesized that there would be positive correlations between the more 'positive' attitudes towards death (i.e., the Approach Acceptance and Neutral Acceptance scales of the DAP-R) and Presence of Meaning in life as measured by the MLQ. It was also hypothesized that there would be positive correlations between the more 'negative' attitudes towards death (i.e., the Fear of Death and Death Avoidance scales of the DAP-R) and Search for Meaning in life as measured by the MLQ. Hypotheses were partially supported in that Presence of Meaning in life and Approach Acceptance were positively correlated, and Search for Meaning in life and Death Avoidance were negatively correlated. Gender differences on these scales were also examined, revealing gender differences in the Neutral Acceptance and Fear of Death scales of the DAP-R. Male participants scored significantly higher on Neutral Acceptance, and female participants had higher mean scores on Fear of Death. Significant gender differences were also found for the Presence of Meaning subscale of the MLQ with female participants reporting higher levels of Presence of Meaning in life. Small, but significant correlations were found between the DAP-R and MLQ scales. However, further regression analysis was performed that included all five DAP-R scales simultaneously, and these correlations became nonsignificant. Therefore, no significant correlations were found overall between the DAP-R scales and the MLQ scales. Directions for future research and possible clinical implications are discussed.

https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/concern/theses/g732dc52n

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