Affiliation:
1. Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado Denver , Denver, CO , USA
2. Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver , Denver, CO , USA
Abstract
Abstract
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic is a widespread source of stress with adverse mental health impacts. Meaning in life, both as a trait and as momentary awareness of what is personally meaningful (meaning salience), is associated with positive health outcomes and may buffer against the deleterious effects of stress.
Purpose
This project examines prospective associations between baseline meaning salience (daily, post-laboratory stressor) and meaning in life with perceived stress during COVID-19.
Methods
A community sample of healthy adults (n = 147) completed a laboratory stress protocol in 2018–2019, where perceived stress, meaning in life, and meaning salience (daily, post-stressor) were assessed. During April and July 2020 (n = 95, and 97, respectively), participants were re-contacted and reported perceived stress. General linear mixed-effects models accounting for repeated measures of stress during COVID-19 were conducted.
Results
Partial correlations holding constant baseline perceived stress showed that COVID-19 perceived stress was correlated with daily meaning salience (r = –.28), post-stressor meaning salience (r = –.20), and meaning in life (r = –.22). In mixed-effects models, daily and post-stressor meaning salience and higher meaning in life, respectively, predicted lower perceived stress during COVID-19, controlling for age, gender, and baseline perceived stress.
Conclusions
Individuals more capable of accessing meaning when exposed to laboratory stress reported lower perceived stress during a global health crisis. Despite study limitations concerning generalizability, results support meaning in life and meaning salience as important aspects of psychological functioning that may promote well-being by affecting stress appraisals and available resources for coping.
Funder
University of Colorado Denver
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Psychiatry and Mental health,General Psychology
Cited by
3 articles.
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