IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v25y2024i6d10.1007_s10902-024-00775-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Self-concept Clarity and Meaning in Life: A Daily Diary Study in a Collectivistic Culture

Author

Listed:
  • Sijia Chen

    (City University of Hong Kong)

  • Xiaoru Li

    (Fudan University)

  • Shengquan Ye

    (City University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

Despite the theoretical significance of self-concept clarity in meaning in life in Western thinking, there has been limited empirical investigation in collectivistic cultures. Consequently, the mechanism and boundary conditions of this effect remain unknown in such cultural contexts. To address this gap, we employed a daily-diary method spanning a period of 10 days, which allowed us to examine both the between-person and within-person effects of self-concept clarity on meaning in life, as well as the mediating role of three precursors of meaning (i.e., coherence, purpose, and significance), and the moderating role of independent self-construal among 83 Chinese participants. Multilevel regressions analyses demonstrated that individuals with higher trait self-concept clarity perceived higher meaning in their daily lives (b = 0.28, SE = 0.08, p = .001); and on days when individuals experienced higher daily self-concept clarity than typical, their sense of meaning on that day also tended to be higher (b = 0.39, SE = 0.04, p

Suggested Citation

  • Sijia Chen & Xiaoru Li & Shengquan Ye, 2024. "Self-concept Clarity and Meaning in Life: A Daily Diary Study in a Collectivistic Culture," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 1-23, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:25:y:2024:i:6:d:10.1007_s10902-024-00775-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-024-00775-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-024-00775-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-024-00775-2?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. Sacha Epskamp, 2020. "Psychometric network models from time-series and panel data," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 85(1), pages 206-231, March.
    2. Guangcan Xiang & Zhaojun Teng & Qingqing Li & Hong Chen, 2023. "Self-concept Clarity and Subjective Well-Being: Disentangling Within- and Between-Person Associations," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1439-1461, April.
    3. Yafei Liu & Siyu Di & Yixianzhi Zhang & Chao Ma, 2023. "Self-Concept Clarity and Learning Engagement: The Sequence-Mediating Role of the Sense of Life Meaning and Future Orientation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-12, March.
    4. Ed Diener & Shigehiro Oishi & Louis Tay, 2018. "Advances in subjective well-being research," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 253-260, April.
    5. Frank Martela & Richard M. Ryan & Michael F. Steger, 2018. "Meaningfulness as Satisfaction of Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness, and Beneficence: Comparing the Four Satisfactions and Positive Affect as Predictors of Meaning in Life," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(5), pages 1261-1282, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Foliano, Francesca & Tonei, Valentina & Sevilla, Almudena, 2024. "Social restrictions, leisure and well-being," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    2. Ihsana Sabriani Borualogo & Ferran Casas, 2023. "Bullying Victimisation and Children’s Subjective Well-being: A Comparative Study in Seven Asian Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(1), pages 1-27, February.
    3. Ekaterina Oparina & Sorawoot Srisuma, 2022. "Analyzing Subjective Well-Being Data with Misclassification," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 730-743, April.
    4. Hannah M. Schade & Jan Digutsch & Thomas Kleinsorge & Yan Fan, 2021. "Having to Work from Home: Basic Needs, Well-Being, and Motivation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-18, May.
    5. Chunli Wei & Qingqing Li & Ziyi Lian & Yijun Luo & Shiqing Song & Hong Chen, 2022. "Variation in Public Trust, Perceived Societal Fairness, and Well-Being before and after COVID-19 Onset—Evidence from the China Family Panel Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-14, September.
    6. Knyspel, Jacob & Plomin, Robert, 2024. "Comparing factor and network models of cognitive abilities using twin data," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    7. Stefan Gruber & Gregor Sand, 2022. "Does Migration Pay Off in Later Life? Income and Subjective Well-Being of Older Migrants in Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 969-988, April.
    8. Cuizhen Xia & Lihua Zhou & Ya Wang & Xiaodong Pei, 2022. "Tibetan Herders’ Life Satisfaction and Determinants under the Pastureland Rehabilitation Program: A Case Study of Maduo County, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    9. Guadalupe Echeverría & Ornella Tiboni & Loni Berkowitz & Victoria Pinto & Bárbara Samith & Andrea von Schultzendorff & Nuria Pedrals & Marcela Bitran & Chiara Ruini & Carol D. Ryff & Daniele Del Rio &, 2020. "Mediterranean Lifestyle to Promote Physical, Mental, and Environmental Health: The Case of Chile," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-17, November.
    10. Zheng, Xiaoying & Ruan, Chenhan & Zheng, Lei, 2021. "Money or love? The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer life goals and subjective well-being," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 626-633.
    11. Xiangdan Piao & Xinxin Ma & Shunsuke Managi, 2021. "Impact of the Intra-household Education Gap on Wives’ and Husbands’ Well-Being: Evidence from Cross-Country Microdata," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 111-136, July.
    12. Nikolova, Milena & Cnossen, Femke, 2020. "What makes work meaningful and why economists should care about it," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    13. Mouratidis, Kostas, 2021. "How COVID-19 reshaped quality of life in cities: A synthesis and implications for urban planning," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    14. Holli-Anne Passmore & Ashley N. Krause, 2023. "The Beyond-Human Natural World: Providing Meaning and Making Meaning," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(12), pages 1-14, June.
    15. Joana Neto & Marta Pinto da Costa & Félix Neto & Sara Carmel, 2021. "The Will-to-Live Scale: Validity and Reliability Among Portuguese Adolescents," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, October.
    16. Phil Lignier & Diane Jarvis & Daniel Grainger & Taha Chaiechi, 2024. "Spatial Heterogeneity and Subjective Wellbeing: Exploring the Role of Social Capital in Metropolitan Areas Using Multilevel Modelling," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 1-23, June.
    17. Qian Xu & Zhe Hou & Chao Zhang & Feng Yu & Tong Li, 2022. "Career Capital and Well-Being: A Configurational Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-10, August.
    18. Chunpei Lin & Guanxi Zhao & Chuanpeng Yu & Yenchun Jim Wu, 2019. "Smart City Development and Residents’ Well-Being," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, January.
    19. Jessica L. Morse & Hyanghee Lee & Shelley A. Haddock & Kimberly L. Henry, 2022. "Meaning in Life Trajectories Among College Students: Differential Effects of a Mentoring Program," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 285-302, January.
    20. Mohsen Joshanloo, 2023. "Within-Person Associations Between Subjective Well-Being and Big Five Personality Traits," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 2111-2126, August.

    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:25:y:2024:i:6:d:10.1007_s10902-024-00775-2. 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.