The Influence of Meaning in Life and Social Support on Resilience in Argentina, Colombia, Spain and Indonesia

Abstract

One of the fundamental purposes of the human being is to develop a full and meaningful life. Among the main sources to achieve this meaning in life is social support. Meaning in life is essential because, in addition contributes to achieving resilient coping with adversities that occur throughout life. This is a relevant research issue for social work and other social sciences. It involved 1,500 participants from Argentina, Colombia, Spain and Indonesia, who completed a booklet comprising Morgan and Farsides' (2009a, 2009b) Meaningful Life Measure (MLM), the Medical Outcome Study-Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS) by Sherbourne and Stewart (1991) and Connor-Davidson’s (2003) Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). The scales used have good psychometric properties. The factor analysis finds a five-factor structure for the meaning in life scale and two factors for the social support scale, while the resilience scale behaves as a unifactorial one. The structural model shows that social support influences both meaning in life and resilience in the face of adversity. A direct influence of social support on resilience is also observed.

Keywords

• meaningful life
• meaning in life
• social support
• resilience
• well being