1Developmental Considerations for Students

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Presenters

►Beth Klingaman bethk@umd.edu

►Kevin London klondonumd@gmail.com

►Margaretha Lucas mlucas1@umd.edu

►Cristina Risco crisco1@umd.edu

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Meaning in Life & Purpose

Meaning: Making sense of existence *

Purpose: Choosing goals based on an attained sense of order

Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral

* References available upon request

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Definition of Terms►Search for Meaning: Extent to which individuals seek purpose and

meaning Active rather than passive

►Presence of Meaning Indicator of psychological health State of one’s inner moral and spiritual self

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Meaning in Life: Adolescents

►Developmental Perspectives

►Adolescents who have a high sense of meaning have personally informed beliefs and related goals.

►Effective means of resolving adolescents’ “identity crisis”

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Meaning in Life & Well Being

►Presence of Meaning positively relates to college students’ psychological well-being.

►Search for Meaning positively relates to negative affect, depression and neuroticism.

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Meaning in Life & Religion

►Religion serves as a lens from which to interpret and make meaning of the world.

►Meaning in life relates positively with: Intrinsic religiousness Beliefs in monotheism Religious Behaviors

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Meaning in Life & Culture

►Some studies suggest gender differences while others studies do not show differences.

►Predictive of psychological well-being in Chinese undergraduates.

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Our Contributions

►Combination of Presence and Search

►Meaning in Life and: Well-being Religiosity Career Development

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Questions

Based on the degree to which students have both search for and presence of meaning in life, are there differences in…

1.) Life satisfaction?2.) Religiosity?3.) Career decidedness?4.) Career calling?

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Scales

► Life Satisfaction Satisfaction with Life Scale Sample item: “So far I have gotten the

important things I want in life.”

►Religiosity Intrinsic Religiousness Orientation Sample item: “I enjoy reading about my

religion.”

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Scales cont…

Career DevelopmentCareer Decision Profile

► Certainty► Comfort► Knowledge of Occupations

and training► Self-clarity► Decisiveness► Career Choice Importance

Sample item: “I have an occupational field in mind that I want to work in.”

Career Calling► Search► Presence

Sample item: “I have a calling to a particular kind of work.”

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Scales cont…

Search for and Presence of Meaning

►Meaning in Life Questionnaire

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Meaning in Life: What we asked Students

► On a scale from 1 (absolutely untrue) to 7 (absolutely true):

Search for Meaning1. I am seeking a purpose or mission for my life2. I am seeking for meaning in my life

Presence of Meaning1. My life has a clear sense of purpose2. I have a good sense of what makes my life

meaningful

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Analyses of the data showed correlations between

‘searching for meaning’ and ‘presence of meaning’

So we created four groups

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Four Groups:

Low Presence► Low presence/low search (‘not engaged’)

► Low presence/high search (‘searchers’)

High Presence►High presence/high search (‘continued searchers’)►High presence/low search (‘committed’)

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What do you think? Which group would

have the most students? Which group would have the least?

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What do we know about these groups?

2020

‘Not engaged’ low presence/low search

► Low on Life satisfaction Religiosity Career calling Career Decision Profile:

Career CertaintyCareer Choice Importance

►High on Career Decision Profile:

Knowledge of Occupations and TrainingCareer Self-Clarity

2121

‘Searchers’ low presence/high search

► Low on Life satisfaction Religiosity Career Calling Career Decision Profile:

Career CertaintyCareer Choice Importance Career ComfortKnowledge of Occupations and TrainingCareer Self-ClarityCareer Decisiveness

2222

‘Continued searchers’high presence/high search

►High on Life satisfaction Religiosity Career Calling Career Decision Profile:

Career CertaintyCareer Choice Importance Career ComfortKnowledge of Occupations and TrainingCareer Self-ClarityCareer Decisiveness

2323

‘Committed’ high presence/low search

►High on Life satisfaction Religiosity Career Calling Career Decision Profile:

Career CertaintyCareer Choice Importance Career Decisiveness

► Especially high on Career Comfort Knowledge of Occupations and Training Career Self-Clarity

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Conclusions

►Developmental changes coincide with changes in presence of and search for meaning in life.

Current study:► Perhaps this is what underlies growth that occurs

in career planning attitudes and interests as well as religious exploration?

►The presence of and search for meaning has implications for well-being.

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Implications:How do we work with students in

each group?

Not Engaged: “I don’t know, but leave me alone”

Searchers: “I don’t know and I don’t like that”

Continued Searchers: “I know and I want more”

Committed: “I know and I’m fine”

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Implications

►Findings call for student programming and opportunities that foster the development of students’ sense of meaning in life.