Does Meaning in Life Mediate Associations Between Suffering and Subsequent Mental Well-Being? Longitudinal Evidence From Two Non-Western Samples.

IF 3 2区心理学 Q2 PSYCHIATRY

Stress and Health Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI:10.1002/smi.3530

Richard G Cowden, Eric N Fung, Andrea O Bechara, Kaye V Cook, Ni Made Taganing Kurniati, Christiany Suwartono, Nilam Widyarini, Tyler J VanderWeele

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Narrative accounts have documented the potential for suffering to degrade a person's well-being by undermining their sense of meaning in life, but few studies have investigated this among nonclinical samples living in non-Western contexts of the Global South. Leveraging data from a set of three-wave longitudinal studies with younger Indonesian (Study 1: Wave 1 [December 2020], Wave 2 [January 2021], Wave 3 [February 2021]; N = 620) and Colombian adults (Study 2: Wave 1 [August/September 2021], Wave 2 [October/November 2021], Wave 3 [February 2022]; N = 2626), the present research used causal mediation methods within a counterfactual framework to examine whether the associations between suffering (Wave 1) and subsequent anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, and general mental health (Wave 3) are mediated by meaning in life (Wave 2). Mediation analyses in both studies provided some evidence indicating that overall suffering (Wave 1) is indirectly associated with worse subsequent mental well-being on all three outcomes (Wave 3) via lower meaning in life (Wave 2). Results were generally consistent with those found for overall suffering when the aspects of suffering were considered individually, although in Study 1 the evidence in support of mediation was stronger and more consistent for some aspects of suffering compared to others. Over both shorter (Study 1) and longer (Study 2) time lags, the findings suggest that meaning in life may be one of the mechanisms by which suffering degrades mental well-being. Practical implications for mitigating and transcending the deleterious effects of suffering on mental well-being are discussed.

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生命的意义是否在痛苦和随后的心理健康之间起到中介作用？来自两个非西方样本的纵向证据。

叙事记录表明，痛苦可能会削弱一个人的生活意义感，从而降低他们的幸福感，但很少有研究对生活在南半球非西方环境中的非临床样本进行调查。利用一组来自印度尼西亚年轻人的三波纵向研究的数据(研究1：第一波[2020年12月]，第二波[2021年1月]，第三波[2021年2月]；N = 620)和哥伦比亚成年人(研究2：第1波[2021年8月/ 9月]，第2波[2021年10月/ 11月]，第3波[2022年2月]；N = 2626)，本研究在反事实框架内使用因果中介方法来检验痛苦（波1）与随后的焦虑症状、抑郁症状、和一般心理健康（波3）是由生活意义（波2）介导的。两项研究中的中介分析提供了一些证据，表明总体痛苦（波1）通过较低的生活意义（波2）间接与所有三种结果（波3）的后续心理健康状况恶化相关。当单独考虑痛苦的各个方面时，结果与总体痛苦的发现基本一致。尽管在研究1中，与其他方面相比，支持调解的证据更强，更一致。在较短（研究1）和较长（研究2）的时间滞后中，研究结果表明，生活的意义可能是痛苦降低心理健康的机制之一。讨论了减轻和超越痛苦对心理健康的有害影响的实际含义。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Stress and Health 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

6.40

自引率

4.90%

发文量

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： Stress is a normal component of life and a number of mechanisms exist to cope with its effects. The stresses that challenge man"s existence in our modern society may result in failure of these coping mechanisms, with resultant stress-induced illness. The aim of the journal therefore is to provide a forum for discussion of all aspects of stress which affect the individual in both health and disease. The Journal explores the subject from as many aspects as possible, so that when stress becomes a consideration, health information can be presented as to the best ways by which to minimise its effects.