Finding Meaning in Misery: Can Stressful Situations Provide Meaning in Life?

Abstract

Theory and research investigating the relationship between affective experiences and meaning in life have focused on how positive affect contributes to perceptions of meaning in life. No work has considered how people can attain meaning in life while experiencing negative affect. The present work tested whether affectively negative circumstances can provide meaning in life. Specifically, two studies, using distinct methodologies, tested whether people can attain meaning in life while experiencing the stress associated with goal-pursuit. In Study 1, the salience of stressful college-related goal-pursuit was experimentally heightened and then perceptions of goal-engagement, meaning in life, and positive and negative affect were measured. In Study 2, trait levels of meaning in life and positive and negative affect were assessed. Later in the semester, stress associated with college-related goal-pursuit, perceptions of goal-engagement, meaning in life, and positive and negative affect were measured. In Study 1, the salience of stressful goal-pursuit did not affect these outcomes. In Study 2, when controlling for trait levels of meaning in life and positive and negative affect, regression and mediation analyses showed that college stress predicted increased negative affect; and that college stress predicted increased perceptions of goal engagement, which in turn predicted increased meaning in life and subsequently positive affect.