This study of 364 male participants found that those who reported experiencing a greater sense of meaning in their lives were less likely to experience general psychological strain (including depressive and anxiety symptoms). The study went further by investigating two implicated key factors: resilience and loneliness. By examining these factors, the study determined that not only does a greater sense of existential meaning contribute directly to reduced psychological distress, but it also does so indirectly through enhancing resilience and lessening loneliness.
These results suggest that designing and implementing psychotherapeutic interventions to enhance the meaning in men’s lives could bolster their resilience, combat loneliness, and ultimately reduce psychological distress. Next steps in research include identifying the deepest sources of meaning for men across the lifespan.
"In a shifting and increasingly fragmented cultural landscape, greater attention needs to be paid to the existential states of meaning and meaninglessness to support and improve men’s mental health," says Tyler Brown, a Postdoctoral Fellow in McGill’s Department of Family Medicine and lead
