IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v16y2015i3p583-597.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Meaning in Life and Health: Proactive Health Orientation Links Meaning in Life to Health Variables Among American Undergraduates

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Steger
  • Arissa Fitch-Martin
  • Jena Donnelly
  • Kathryn Rickard

Abstract

Mounting research has demonstrated relationships between meaning in life (MIL) and a wide range of health-relevant outcomes, including health symptoms, health-promoting behaviors, health-risking behaviors, cognitive decline, and mortality. Despite these provocative results, there have been few efforts to explain why meaning and health should be linked. It is proposed that meaning supports a more positive health orientation among people, which in turn is related to more positive health behaviors and health. This model was tested using structural path analysis in a healthy, but health-risk-prone, sample of 571 undergraduate students, focusing on health criterion variables of health symptoms, attitudes toward condom use, and substance abuse. Two aspects of health orientation, proactive health orientation and health information discounting, were assessed. Direct relationships were observed between MIL and health criterion variables, as well as indirect relationships carried by combinations of both health orientations. In a generally healthy, health-risk-prone sample, MIL was beneficially related to health symptoms, risky condom attitudes, and substance use. Proactive health orientation and health information discounting statistically explained some of these relationships, suggesting new avenues for intervening to promote healthy lifestyle factors and prevent adverse health outcomes. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Steger & Arissa Fitch-Martin & Jena Donnelly & Kathryn Rickard, 2015. "Meaning in Life and Health: Proactive Health Orientation Links Meaning in Life to Health Variables Among American Undergraduates," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 583-597, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:16:y:2015:i:3:p:583-597
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-014-9523-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10902-014-9523-6
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-014-9523-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Allard, R., 1989. "Beliefs about AIDS as determinants of preventive practices and of support for coercive measures," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 79(4), pages 448-452.
    2. Chong Ju Choi & Carla C. J. M. Millar & Caroline Y. L. Wong, 2005. "Knowledge and the State," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Knowledge Entanglements, chapter 0, pages 19-38, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Neal Krause, 2009. "Meaning in Life and Mortality," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 64(4), pages 517-527.
    4. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    5. Moorman, Christine & Matulich, Erika, 1993. "A Model of Consumers' Preventive Health Behaviors: The Role of Health Motivation and Health Ability," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(2), pages 208-228, September.
    6. Neal Krause, 2004. "Stressors Arising in Highly Valued Roles, Meaning in Life, and the Physical Health Status of Older Adults," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 59(5), pages 287-297.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ying Li & Yihan Jin & Huiyan Kong & Chao Feng & Lei Cao & Tiantian Li & Yue Wang, 2023. "The Relationship between Meaning in Life and Depression among Chinese Junior High School Students: The Mediating and Moderating Effects of Cognitive Failures and Mindfulness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Małgorzata Szcześniak & Andrzej Potemkowski & Waldemar Brola & Zdzisław Kroplewski & Roman Ryszard Szałachowski & Marek Zak & Maciej Wilski & Piotr Sobolewski & Halina Bartosik-Psujek & Katarzyna Kapi, 2022. "The Big Five Personality Traits and Positive Orientation in Polish Adults with Multiple Sclerosis: The Role of Meaning in Life," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-15, April.
    3. Zhang, Shuyue & Fu, Ya-Nan & Liu, Qun & Turel, Ofir & He, Qinghua, 2022. "Psychological capital mediates the influence of meaning in life on prosocial behavior of university students: A longitudinal study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    4. Jie Wen & Miao Miao, 2022. "Relationships Between Meaning in Life, Positive and Negative Affect, and Eating Behaviors: A Daily Diary Study," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1315-1331, April.
    5. Teniell L. Trolian & Elizabeth A. Jach, 2022. "Applied Learning and Students’ Well-Being in Higher Education," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 1269-1286, June.
    6. Volker Gehrau & Sam Fujarski & Hannah Lorenz & Carla Schieb & Bernd Blöbaum, 2021. "The Impact of Health Information Exposure and Source Credibility on COVID-19 Vaccination Intention in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-12, April.
    7. Marcin Wnuk, 2022. "The Beneficial Role of Involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous for Existential and Subjective Well-Being of Alcohol-Dependent Individuals? The Model Verification," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-14, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Raza, Syed Ali & Shah, Nida & Nisar, Wasay, 2019. "Consumer Buying Behavior of Organic Food with Respect to Health and Safety Concerns among Adolescents," MPRA Paper 93570, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Uribe, Rodrigo & Buzeta, Cristian & Velásquez, Milenka, 2016. "Sidedness, commercial intent and expertise in blog advertising," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4403-4410.
    3. Luo, Wen & Mineo, Keito & Matsushita, Koji & Kanzaki, Mamoru, 2018. "Consumer willingness to pay for modern wooden structures: A comparison between China and Japan," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 84-93.
    4. Yap, Sheau-Fen & Noor, Nor Azila Mohammad & Marshall, Roger & Liew, Kok-Hong, 2014. "Promoting preventive health behaviour among young Malaysian consumers: toward an integrated conceptual framework," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 268-278.
    5. Neal Krause & R. David Hayward, 2014. "Assessing Stability and Change in a Second-Order Confirmatory Factor Model of Meaning in Life," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 237-253, April.
    6. Jawad Iqbal & Donglei Yu & Maria Zubair & Muhammad Imran Rasheed & Hafiz Muhammad Usman Khizar & Muhammad Imran, 2021. "Health Consciousness, Food Safety Concern, and Consumer Purchase Intentions Toward Organic Food: The Role of Consumer Involvement and Ecological Motives," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, May.
    7. Zagidullin, Marat & Aziz, Nergis & Kozhakhmet, Sanat, 2021. "Government policies and attitudes to social media use among users in Turkey: The role of awareness of policies, political involvement, online trust, and party identification," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    8. Maria Andersson & Ola Eriksson & Chris Von Borgstede, 2012. "The Effects of Environmental Management Systems on Source Separation in the Work and Home Settings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(6), pages 1-17, June.
    9. Tran Huy Phuong & Thanh Trung Hieu, 2015. "Predictors of Entrepreneurial Intentions of Undergraduate Students in Vietnam: An Empirical Study," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 5(8), pages 46-55, August.
    10. Peng Cheng & Zhe Ouyang & Yang Liu, 0. "The effect of information overload on the intention of consumers to adopt electric vehicles," Transportation, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-20.
    11. Ritu Agarwal & Michelle Dugas & Guodong (Gordon) Gao & P. K. Kannan, 2020. "Emerging technologies and analytics for a new era of value-centered marketing in healthcare," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 9-23, January.
    12. Variyam, Jayachandran N. & Blaylock, James R. & Smallwood, David M. & Basiotis, P. Peter, 1998. "USDA's Healthy Eating Index and Nutrition Information," Technical Bulletins 33588, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    13. Alsalem, Amani & Fry, Marie-Louise & Thaichon, Park, 2020. "To donate or to waste it: Understanding posthumous organ donation attitude," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 87-97.
    14. Benoît Lécureux & Adrien Bonnet & Ouassim Manout & Jaâfar Berrada & Louafi Bouzouina, 2022. "Acceptance of Shared Autonomous Vehicles: A Literature Review of stated choice experiments," Working Papers hal-03814947, HAL.
    15. Kristin Thomas & Evalill Nilsson & Karin Festin & Pontus Henriksson & Mats Lowén & Marie Löf & Margareta Kristenson, 2020. "Associations of Psychosocial Factors with Multiple Health Behaviors: A Population-Based Study of Middle-Aged Men and Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-17, February.
    16. Kamruzzaman, Md. & Baker, Douglas & Washington, Simon & Turrell, Gavin, 2013. "Residential dissonance and mode choice," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 12-28.
    17. Ficko, Andrej & Boncina, Andrej, 2013. "Probabilistic typology of management decision making in private forest properties," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 34-43.
    18. Muhammad Shahid Qureshi & Saadat Saeed & Syed Waleed Mehmood Wasti, 2016. "The impact of various entrepreneurial interventions during the business plan competition on the entrepreneur identity aspirations of participants," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 6(1), pages 1-18, December.
    19. Julie Bayle-Cordier & Loïc Berger & Rayan Elatmani & Massimo Tavoni, 2023. "Breath, Love, Walk? The Impact of Mindfulness Interventions on Climate Policy Support and Environmental Attitudes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-29, July.
    20. Szu‐Szu Ho & Rosie Stenhouse & Aisha Holloway, 2020. "Understanding HIV‐positive drug users’ experiences of taking highly active antiretroviral treatment: Identity–Values–Conscious engagement model," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(9-10), pages 1561-1575, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:16:y:2015:i:3:p:583-597. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.