The relationships between meaning & purpose in life, hope, and psychosocial development

Abstract

Existential psychology attempts to enhance psychological well-being through the awareness of meaning and purpose in life. Similarly, counseling theories based on Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development promote mental health and successful growth. This study investigates the relationships between meaning and purpose in life, hope, and psychosocial development. Subjects were asked to complete four self-report inventories (a measure of personal meaning, a measure of psychosocial development, and two measures of hope). Correlational analyses of the gathered data reveal that there are significant correlations between high meaning, successful development, and high hope. Although comparisons of scores on all four measures generated significant correlations, the Herth Hope Scale consistently produced higher correlations with the two other measures than the scores from the Snyder Hope Scale. These results suggest that the Herth Hope Scale, which contains a spiritual component, may relate better to constructs of meaning and purpose and successful psychosocial development which also reflects a spiritual nature.