Post traumatic growth, meaning in life and hope among emerging adults
- Authors: De Klerk, Elonie
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Positive psychology , Posttraumatic growth , Meaning (Psychology) , Post-traumatic stress disorder , Hope
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/235217 , uj:24064
- Description: M.A. (Counselling Psychology) , Abstract: Positive psychology (PP) is interested in individuals’ optimal human functioning and focuses on positive experiences and positive characters and virtues. A developmental phase that seems to particularly benefit from positive functioning is emerging adulthood, which refers to individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 years. When these individuals enter the university context as students, additional factors may impact on their development. Moreover, although emerging adults tend to seem hopeful about the future, have the potential to establish close relationships and are capable of positive change, yet research has mainly focussed on negative aspects concerning this life phase. This study therefore aims to focus on aspects that could be indicators of positive functioning during this life phase, namely post traumatic growth (PTG), meaning in life (MIL) and hope. This study also examines the relationship between these constructs, as well as MIL and hope as predictors of PTG. In order to achieve these aims, a quantitative, cross-sectional and correlational research design was implemented. The sample consisted of emerging adults (n= 166), who completed an online survey, which consisted of a Biographical Questionnaire, the Post Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MILQ) and the Adult Hope Scale (AHS). The MILQ was used to determine the Presence of Meaning (MIL-P) and Search for Meaning (MIL-S). The participants in this study indicated high levels of PTG, MIL and hope. Relationships between PTG and MIL-P, PTG and hope and MIL- P and hope were positive and statistically significant. The prediction values of both MIL-P and hope towards PTG were statistically significant. Further research is needed to better understand the factors that influence the relationships between PTG, MIL and hope. Recommendations within this context are discussed.
- Full Text:
- Authors: De Klerk, Elonie
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Positive psychology , Posttraumatic growth , Meaning (Psychology) , Post-traumatic stress disorder , Hope
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/235217 , uj:24064
- Description: M.A. (Counselling Psychology) , Abstract: Positive psychology (PP) is interested in individuals’ optimal human functioning and focuses on positive experiences and positive characters and virtues. A developmental phase that seems to particularly benefit from positive functioning is emerging adulthood, which refers to individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 years. When these individuals enter the university context as students, additional factors may impact on their development. Moreover, although emerging adults tend to seem hopeful about the future, have the potential to establish close relationships and are capable of positive change, yet research has mainly focussed on negative aspects concerning this life phase. This study therefore aims to focus on aspects that could be indicators of positive functioning during this life phase, namely post traumatic growth (PTG), meaning in life (MIL) and hope. This study also examines the relationship between these constructs, as well as MIL and hope as predictors of PTG. In order to achieve these aims, a quantitative, cross-sectional and correlational research design was implemented. The sample consisted of emerging adults (n= 166), who completed an online survey, which consisted of a Biographical Questionnaire, the Post Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MILQ) and the Adult Hope Scale (AHS). The MILQ was used to determine the Presence of Meaning (MIL-P) and Search for Meaning (MIL-S). The participants in this study indicated high levels of PTG, MIL and hope. Relationships between PTG and MIL-P, PTG and hope and MIL- P and hope were positive and statistically significant. The prediction values of both MIL-P and hope towards PTG were statistically significant. Further research is needed to better understand the factors that influence the relationships between PTG, MIL and hope. Recommendations within this context are discussed.
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Engagement and meaningfulness at work : the moderating roles of life satisfaction and gender
- Authors: Williamson, Jillian Carolyn
- Date: 2012-10-30
- Subjects: Work engagement , Meaningfulness , Well-being , Quality of life , Quality of work life , Satisfaction , Meaning (Psychology) , Sex differences (Psychology)
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:10490 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/7987
- Description: M.Comm. , Orientation: Scientific knowledge relating to the field of positive psychology within the South African workplace is required. Purpose: The objectives of this study were (1) to investigate the relationships between work engagement, psychological meaningfulness, life satisfaction and gender and (2) to test whether life satisfaction and gender had a moderating effect on the amount of psychological meaningfulness and engagement put forth by employees at work. Motivation: Although research on life satisfaction is abundant within the field of psychology, research within the work environment is limited. Furthermore, research is needed within South Africa to promote well-being of employees. Method: Survey designs were used to capture a sample from various South African organisations (n = 800). The Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Work Engagement Scale and the Psychological Meaningfulness Scale were administered. Results: Firstly, life satisfaction, work engagement and psychological meaningfulness were significantly correlated. Secondly, psychological meaningfulness was a significant predictor of work engagement. Thirdly, life satisfaction significantly moderated psychological meaningfulness on work engagement. Fourthly, gender significantly moderated psychological meaningfulness on work engagement. Lastly, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement were significant predictors of life satisfaction. Contribution: This research created an understanding of employee wellness at work through the combination of employee’s personal and work lives. Future research could focus on identifying what behaviours promote such constructs to enhance individual and organisational success.
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- Authors: Williamson, Jillian Carolyn
- Date: 2012-10-30
- Subjects: Work engagement , Meaningfulness , Well-being , Quality of life , Quality of work life , Satisfaction , Meaning (Psychology) , Sex differences (Psychology)
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:10490 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/7987
- Description: M.Comm. , Orientation: Scientific knowledge relating to the field of positive psychology within the South African workplace is required. Purpose: The objectives of this study were (1) to investigate the relationships between work engagement, psychological meaningfulness, life satisfaction and gender and (2) to test whether life satisfaction and gender had a moderating effect on the amount of psychological meaningfulness and engagement put forth by employees at work. Motivation: Although research on life satisfaction is abundant within the field of psychology, research within the work environment is limited. Furthermore, research is needed within South Africa to promote well-being of employees. Method: Survey designs were used to capture a sample from various South African organisations (n = 800). The Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Work Engagement Scale and the Psychological Meaningfulness Scale were administered. Results: Firstly, life satisfaction, work engagement and psychological meaningfulness were significantly correlated. Secondly, psychological meaningfulness was a significant predictor of work engagement. Thirdly, life satisfaction significantly moderated psychological meaningfulness on work engagement. Fourthly, gender significantly moderated psychological meaningfulness on work engagement. Lastly, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement were significant predictors of life satisfaction. Contribution: This research created an understanding of employee wellness at work through the combination of employee’s personal and work lives. Future research could focus on identifying what behaviours promote such constructs to enhance individual and organisational success.
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Psycho-educational guidelines for late adolescents to clarify meaning in life as an integral part of mental health
- Authors: Geyser, Remon
- Date: 2012-06-07
- Subjects: Meaning (Psychology) , Teenagers - Mental health
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:8722 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/5073
- Description: M.Ed. , The world today is filled with instability and uncertainty. This is especially true to South Africa. Many experience difficult circumstances, and sometimes struggle to work through these negative and destructive motions. The meaning in life is something that most people start to explore at a young age (Kinnier, Kernes, Tribbensee & Puymbroeck 2006:7). People have searched for the answers in many places and in doing so, have sometimes experienced more harm than good. Ultimately, not finding meaning in life can be detrimental to a person's mental health. Much earlier, researchers such as Bollnow (1950), Garbers (1957), and others have researched this phenomenon in Europe, especially after the Second World War. However, not much research has been done in the field of late adolescents in the South African context. The purpose of this research study was to provide psycho-educational guidelines for late adolescents, to clarify what their meaning in life is. This can sometimes be a difficult concept to explore, as not all people have certainty of what gives them meaning. This is why a purposive selection of participants was chosen. These participants were between the ages of 18 and 24 years. All of them should have undergone an existential crisis at least 6 months prior to the study. This, in theory, ensures that the participants were in a place in their lives where they had questioned the meaning in life, and had time to process their findings, if any. One open ended question was asked: "What gives you meaning in your life?" The findings can be summed up as follows: Meaning in life equals relationship.
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- Authors: Geyser, Remon
- Date: 2012-06-07
- Subjects: Meaning (Psychology) , Teenagers - Mental health
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:8722 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/5073
- Description: M.Ed. , The world today is filled with instability and uncertainty. This is especially true to South Africa. Many experience difficult circumstances, and sometimes struggle to work through these negative and destructive motions. The meaning in life is something that most people start to explore at a young age (Kinnier, Kernes, Tribbensee & Puymbroeck 2006:7). People have searched for the answers in many places and in doing so, have sometimes experienced more harm than good. Ultimately, not finding meaning in life can be detrimental to a person's mental health. Much earlier, researchers such as Bollnow (1950), Garbers (1957), and others have researched this phenomenon in Europe, especially after the Second World War. However, not much research has been done in the field of late adolescents in the South African context. The purpose of this research study was to provide psycho-educational guidelines for late adolescents, to clarify what their meaning in life is. This can sometimes be a difficult concept to explore, as not all people have certainty of what gives them meaning. This is why a purposive selection of participants was chosen. These participants were between the ages of 18 and 24 years. All of them should have undergone an existential crisis at least 6 months prior to the study. This, in theory, ensures that the participants were in a place in their lives where they had questioned the meaning in life, and had time to process their findings, if any. One open ended question was asked: "What gives you meaning in your life?" The findings can be summed up as follows: Meaning in life equals relationship.
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The relationship between meaning in life and optimism
- Authors: Grounds, Mathew
- Date: 2008-11-06T07:25:26Z
- Subjects: Optimism , Positivism , Meaning (Psychology)
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:14598 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1519
- Description: M.A. , For many decades now the emphasis within psychology, psychiatry and related human science fields has been on disease, disorder and deficit. This has been referred to as the disease model (Lampropoulas, 2001) or vulnerability/deficit model (Ickovics & Park, 1998). In recent times the stirrings of an alternative way of viewing human beings and human functioning is emerging. This new world-view may be referred to as positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Positive psychology offers a way of viewing people that emphasises the positive in respect of health - both mental and physical - in as much as individuals, inter-personal functioning and groups are concerned. Positive psychology thus serves as an antidote to the traditional emphasis on pathology and deficits. Ickovics and Park (1998) suggest that this change in focus from illness to health represent nothing less than a paradigmatic shift in theoretical psychological thinking. Several authors (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Strümpfer, 1995; Lightsey, 1996) make reference to diverse aspects of human beings that are thought to function as psychological or, resistance, resources. Typically these resistance resources are thought to help protect the individual against the effects of stressors in life and to have positive consequences for the individual in terms of physical and other areas of health (Antonovsky, 1979). It is this writer’s contention that both the constructs of interest in this study, optimism and meaning in life, are just such resistance resources and therefore readily belong to the new, affirming vision of man represented by positive psychology. This study will add to the empirical data needed to support the emerging science of strength and resilience, thereby assisting to divert psychology from it’s historical obsession with disease and malaise. Another of the more general aims of this study is to contribute towards the field of salutogenesis by adding new constructs to the existing framework of GRRs and to further understand these constructs. It will also help in encouraging the attitudinal shift that will be necessary to reorient the discipline back to its neglected missions of “making normal people stronger and more productive and making high human potential actual” (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000, p. 8). The more specific aim of the study is to investigate the existence of, and nature of, the relationship between two variables, optimism and meaning in life. The results of the study indicate that a high positive correlation does indeed exist between the two constructs of interest, optimism and meaning in life. In conclusion, the value of having and maintaining both meaning in life and optimism in life was supported. This and future research into human strengths and psychological resources, as identified by Antonovsky (1979, 1987), Lightsey (1996), and others, serves to deepen and expand our understanding of the roles played by these vitally supportive and succourative factors in human functioning and well-being.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Grounds, Mathew
- Date: 2008-11-06T07:25:26Z
- Subjects: Optimism , Positivism , Meaning (Psychology)
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:14598 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1519
- Description: M.A. , For many decades now the emphasis within psychology, psychiatry and related human science fields has been on disease, disorder and deficit. This has been referred to as the disease model (Lampropoulas, 2001) or vulnerability/deficit model (Ickovics & Park, 1998). In recent times the stirrings of an alternative way of viewing human beings and human functioning is emerging. This new world-view may be referred to as positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Positive psychology offers a way of viewing people that emphasises the positive in respect of health - both mental and physical - in as much as individuals, inter-personal functioning and groups are concerned. Positive psychology thus serves as an antidote to the traditional emphasis on pathology and deficits. Ickovics and Park (1998) suggest that this change in focus from illness to health represent nothing less than a paradigmatic shift in theoretical psychological thinking. Several authors (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Strümpfer, 1995; Lightsey, 1996) make reference to diverse aspects of human beings that are thought to function as psychological or, resistance, resources. Typically these resistance resources are thought to help protect the individual against the effects of stressors in life and to have positive consequences for the individual in terms of physical and other areas of health (Antonovsky, 1979). It is this writer’s contention that both the constructs of interest in this study, optimism and meaning in life, are just such resistance resources and therefore readily belong to the new, affirming vision of man represented by positive psychology. This study will add to the empirical data needed to support the emerging science of strength and resilience, thereby assisting to divert psychology from it’s historical obsession with disease and malaise. Another of the more general aims of this study is to contribute towards the field of salutogenesis by adding new constructs to the existing framework of GRRs and to further understand these constructs. It will also help in encouraging the attitudinal shift that will be necessary to reorient the discipline back to its neglected missions of “making normal people stronger and more productive and making high human potential actual” (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000, p. 8). The more specific aim of the study is to investigate the existence of, and nature of, the relationship between two variables, optimism and meaning in life. The results of the study indicate that a high positive correlation does indeed exist between the two constructs of interest, optimism and meaning in life. In conclusion, the value of having and maintaining both meaning in life and optimism in life was supported. This and future research into human strengths and psychological resources, as identified by Antonovsky (1979, 1987), Lightsey (1996), and others, serves to deepen and expand our understanding of the roles played by these vitally supportive and succourative factors in human functioning and well-being.
- Full Text:
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