Fear of the unknown as a mechanism of the inverse relation between life meaning and psychological distress
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although there is accumulating evidence for an inverse relation between life meaning and psychological distress, little is known about the mechanisms of this relation. Using cross-sectional, observational methods, this research examined fear of uncertainty as one potential mechanism. DESIGN AND METHODS: = 152) was completed with a sample prescreened for anxiety, a multidimensional measure of life meaning, and clinical measures of anxiety and depression. RESULTS: The results from both studies generally showed an inverse relation between life meaning and psychological distress. Study 2 further indicated that these relations were stronger for the meaning subscale of perceiving life as coherent/comprehensible than the subscales assessing whether participants' lives are perceived as purposeful or significant. Mediation analyses in both studies showed indirect effects of life meaning on psychological distress through fear of uncertainty. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support and extend previous research by showing that (i) meaning-as-comprehension may be particularly important in regards to psychological distress, and (ii) fear of uncertainty may mediate the inverse relation between meaning and measures of anxiety and depression.
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Meaning in life has been shown to be inversely related to anxiety.
“which in turn has been shown to be inversely related to anxiety (Ostafin et al., 2021)”
From Aversive response to uncertainty as a mediator for the effect of a mindfulness intervention on symptoms of anxiety (2022) · cites this paper as Ostafin et al., 2021
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- Authors
- Ostafin, B. D., Papenfuss, I., & Vervaeke, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Groningen (NL)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Ostafin, Brian D.
- Venue
- Anxiety, Stress, & Coping
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2021-10-30
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 379-394
- ISSN
- 1061-5806 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-2205
- OpenAlex
- W3209579224
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 73
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 8
- FWCI
- 3.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Anxiety Stress & Coping (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- meaning of life, psychological distress, fear of uncertainty, anxiety, depression, mediation, fear of the unknown
- MeSH terms
- Psychological Distress, Anxiety, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Fear, Humans, Stress, Psychological, Uncertainty
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