中国科学院心理研究所机构知识库

Chinese adolescents’ academic achievement has been much researched while relatively little is known about their personal growth such as attaining a sense of meaning in life. In this study, 179 urban Chinese 10th graders (94 females; mean age=14.80 years, SD=.32) reported twice spanning six months on their sense of presence of meaning in life (e.g., "I understand my life’s meaning." "My life has a clear sense of purpose."), life satisfaction, self-esteem, depression, anxiety, problem behavior and perceptions of parental autonomy support and psychological control. Consistent with findings in Western cultures, a sense of presence of meaning in life predicted Chinese adolescents’ heighted life satisfaction and self-esteem but dampened depression, anxiety and problem behavior over time, adjusting for their initial functioning; moreover, perceived parental autonomy support predicted adolescents’ heightened sense of presence ofmeaning in life over time, adjusting for their initial level of such a sense (|βs|>.12, ps<.05).