Meaning in Life and Existential Anxiety among University Students: Mediating Role of Resilience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33897/fujp.v10i2.983Keywords:
Existential anxiety, Meaning in life, Resilience, Young Adults, SDGsAbstract
Background: Young adults often face existential concerns due to increasing academic pressures and life uncertainties that negatively affect their psychological wellbeing. Despite the significant influence of meaning and resilience on existential concerns, the interrelation of these factors remains underexplored in context of Pakistani youth.
Objectives: The present study aimed at finding out the associations between meaning in life and existential anxiety mediated by resilience among young adults university students aged 17-25. It was hypothesized that meaning in life is negatively associated with existential anxiety, positively associated with resilience and that resilience mediates the relationship between meaning in life and existential anxiety and there are significant gender differences.
Method: The study was conducted in universities located in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. Data was collected through three standardized instruments: the Existential Anxiety Questionnaire (Weems, 2004), the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (Steger et al. 2006), and the Brief Resilience Scale (Smith et al., 2008).
Results: Findings revealed that meaning in life was negatively associated with existential anxiety (r = -0.273, p < .01) and positively associated with resilience (r = 0.157, p < .01), while resilience was negatively correlated with existential anxiety (r = -0.316, p < .01). Independent sample t-test indicated that females reported higher existential anxiety than males, whereas males demonstrated greater resilience and a stronger sense of meaning in life. Mediation analysis indicated that resilience partially mediated the relationship between meaning in life and existential anxiety, while the direct effect of meaning in life on existential anxiety remained significant.
Implications: The study contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good health and well-being) and Goal 4 (Quality Education) by promoting youth mental health and emotional resilience in higher education contexts.
Downloads
References
Alshehri, A., Aljohani, S., Alzahem, A., & Alenezi, M. (2024). The prevalence of existential anxiety and its associations with depression and stress among Saudi students. Journal of Anxiety and Stress, 25(4), 255–265.
Arslan, G., Y?ld?r?m, M., & Allen, K. A. (2021). Meaning in life and mental well-being among Turkish young adults: The mediating role of resilience. Journal of Positive Psychology, 16(1), 1–10.
Auerbach, R. P., Alonso, J., Axinn, W. G., Cuijpers, P., Ebert, D. D., Green, J. G., ... & Bruffaerts, R. (2016). Mental disorders among college students in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Psychological Medicine, 46(14), 2955–2970.
BAno, A. (2014). Impact of meaning in life on psychological wellbeing and stress among university students. Existenzanalyse, GLE-International, 12, 21–25.
Brassai, L., Piko, B. F., & Steger, M. F. (2011). Meaning in life and well-being among university students in Hungary. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12(1), 101–111.
Chu, X., Ilyas, I. F., Krishnan, S., & Wang, J. (2016, June). Data cleaning: Overview and emerging challenges. In Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Management of Data (pp. 2201–2206).
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Haqqani, S., Naeem, M., Fatima, T., Sabahat, N. U., & Yousaf, I. (2024). Depression, anxiety, stress and wellbeing of young psychology students in Pakistan: A cross-sectional descriptive study. Migration Letters, 21(S10), 100–108.
Hashmi, S., & Zafar. (2024). Meaning of life with existential crisis among Muslim young adults. Pakistan Social Sciences Review.
Hayes, A. F. (2022). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
Heintzelman, S. J., & King, L. A. (2014). Life is pretty meaningful. American Psychologist, 69(6), 561–574.
Inayat Ur Rahman, Zeb, H., Mansha, S., & Shah, I. (2025). Exploring the association between sense of meaning in life, life satisfaction and resilience among adults of age 18–22 years. University of Peshawar.
Lara-Cabrera, M. L., Betancort, M., & Muñoz-Rodríguez, J. (2021). The mediating role of resilience between perceived stress and mental health among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 30(6), 1680–1689.
Masten, A. S., & Barnes, A. J. (2018). Resilience in children: Developmental perspectives. Children, 5(7), 98.
McLean, C. P., & Anderson, E. R. (2009). Brave men and timid women? A review of the gender differences in fear and anxiety. Clinical Psychology Review, 29(6), 496–505.
Richardson, G. E. (2002). The metatheory of resilience and resiliency. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(3), 307–321.
Schwartz, B. (2005). The paradox of choice: Why more is less. HarperCollins.
Schwartz, S. J., Beyers, W., Luyckx, K., Soenens, B., Zamboanga, B. L., Forthun, L. F., Hardy, S. A., Vazsonyi, A. T., Ham, L. H., Kim, S. U., Krauss Whitbourne, S., & Waterman, A. S. (2011). Examining the light and dark sides of emerging adults’ identity: A study of identity status differences in positive and negative psychosocial functioning. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40(7), 839–859.
Smith, B. W., Dalen, J., Wiggins, K., Tooley, E., Christopher, P., & Bernard, J. (2008). The brief resilience scale: Assessing the ability to bounce back. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 15(3), 194–200.
Steger, M. F. (2009). Meaning in life. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(5), 1–14.
Steger, M. F. (2010). Meaning in life questionnaire. In M. F. Steger (Ed.), The handbook of meaning and life (pp. 3–12). Springer.
Steger, M. F. (2012). Making meaning in life. Psychological Inquiry, 23(4), 381–385.
Steger, M. F. (2013). Experiencing meaning in life: Optimal functioning at the nexus of well-being, psychopathology, and spirituality. In P. T. P. Wong (Ed.), The human quest for meaning (pp. 165–184). Routledge.
Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. (2006). The Meaning in Life Questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53(1), 80–93.
Steger, M. F., & Kashdan, T. B. (2007). Stability and specificity of meaning in life and life satisfaction over one year. Journal of Happiness Studies, 8(2), 161–179.
Weems, C. F. (2004). Existential anxiety questionnaire. Journal of Anxiety and Stress, 22(5), 469–478.
Wong, P. T. P. (2008). Meaning management theory: A system approach to coping with uncertainty, loss, and adversity. Psychological Inquiry, 19(4), 203–230.
Yalom, I. D. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. Basic Books.
