The Mediating Role of Positive Orientation in the Relationship between Loneliness and Meaning in Life

Dominik Borawski ()
Additional contact information
Dominik Borawski: Department of Psychology, Jan Kochanowski University, 25-029 Kielce, Poland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 16, 1-8

Abstract: (1) Background: Previous research revealed that increased loneliness resulted in decreased meaning in life (MIL). Little is known, however, about the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. The aim of the study was to determine if the set of positive evaluations of oneself, one’s life, and one’s future discussed by Caprara as positive orientation (POS) was a mediator between loneliness and MIL. (2) Methods: A sample of 304 Polish participants aged 19–45 ( M = 25.61 years, SD = 6.1) completed the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, the Presence subscale of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, and the Positivity Scale. (3) Results: The study showed that loneliness was negatively associated with POS and MIL, while POS and MIL were positively correlated with each other. It also turned out that POS partially mediated the relationship between loneliness and MIL. (4) Conclusions: The results suggest that, by inhibiting POS, loneliness makes it difficult to perceive life as meaningful. The interrelationships between loneliness, POS, and MIL are discussed in light of the evolutionary theory of loneliness.

Keywords: loneliness; meaning in life; positive orientation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/9948/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/9948/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:16:p:9948-:d:886372

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().