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In this article, important theories of life meaning are discussed, as are the hypothesized effects of meaning on anxiety and depression. A commonality among these theories-hopeful thinking-is highlighted in the context of a goal-directed model of hope (Snyder et al., 1991). It is proposed that hope is a component common to all theories of meaning. We administered scales of meaning, hope, depression, and anxiety to 139 college students. Factor analysis reveals a single factor underlying the meaning scales and hope measure, offering evidence that hope is a component of meaning. Additionally, in regression analyses, statistically controlling for hope attenuates the correlations between meaning and both depression and anxiety. Similar results are found for the correlations between hope and depression or anxiety, when controlling for meaning.
Historically, life meaning has been one of the most elusive concepts in the fields of philosophy and psychology. Attempts to understand its nature have spanned centuries, involving such auspicious philosophers, psychologists, and psychiatrists as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Camus, Sartre, Frankl, May, Yalom, and others. Unfortunately, despite their world view-bending efforts, more rather than fewer questions have been generated. The resolution for many theoreticians has been to cease asking "What is the meaning of life?" and instead to wonder "What is the nature of meaning?" One important way to better understand the nature of any abstract, molar variable such as meaning is to examine its relationship with more basic, molecular variables. In the present article, we examine the relationship of meaning with another historically important, theoretically related, and well-operationalized variable: hope (Snyder et al., 1991). First, we briefly review the history of psychological definitions of meaning; next, we identify an important commonality among these definitions-hopeful, goal-directing cognition-and discuss some of its theoretical implications; and last, we report the results of a study designed to test this commonality and its relations with depression and anxiety.
HISTORICAL DEFINITIONS OF MEANING
The first step in any scientific or philosophical endeavor is to clearly define the concepts under investigation. Life meaning is often spoken and written about as if it were a unitary construct (Berman, 1992; Lerner, 1997). Like many other constructs in psychology, however, several distinct definitions and theories of meaning exist. It is generally understood that these theories share two notions: (1) life...