مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - The Relationship between Meaning in Life and the Purpose of Life for University Students

Abstract :

The aim of this research was to test the relationship between meaning in life and purpose in life for university students.- In addition to the gender effect on the meaning in life, the search for meaning and purpose in life is investigated. The sample for this study comprised 268 university students in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The ages of the participants ranged between 18 and 29 with a mean of 21.07, with 156 (% 58) women and 112 (% 42) men forming the genders of these participants. In order to gather the data the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) and the Purpose in Life (PL), Measures of Psychological Well-Being were used. The data were analyzed through using SPSS 20. The Pearson Correlation Coefficients were used in order to examine the relationship between meaning in life and purpose in life. One-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted in order to test the gender effect on the meaning in life and the purpose in life. The results revealed that there was a positive relationship between the meaning in life levels and the purpose in life levels, and a negative relationship between search levels of purpose in life levels of university students. Also, the research found that the meaning in life and the purpose in life scores of women were higher than for men. The results and limitations of the study are discussed and the recommendations made have been provided to psychological counsellors and researchers.