László Brassai

Meaning in Life: Is It a Protective Factor for Adolescents’ Psychological Health?

BackgroundSearching for a coherent meaning in life has long been proposed to be a protective factor in adolescent development.PurposeThe present study aimed to examine meaning in life as a protective factor in a largely unstudied population: Romanian adolescents. Additionally, we sought to provide a novel, multidimensional assessment of several health-related variables (substance abuse, health risk behaviors, psychological health). Potential gender differences were explored regarding the role of life meaning in adolescent health.MethodData were collected in 2006 from students enrolled in the secondary schools of the Middle Transylvanian Region, Romania (n = 1,977). Self-administered questionnaires were used as a method of data collection including items of life meaning and psychological health.ResultsMeaning in life played a protective role with regard to health risk behaviors except smoking and binge drinking. Among males, meaning in life was found to be correlated only to illicit drug and sedative use, whereas among females, meaning in life was associated with binge drinking, unsafe sex, and lack of exercise and diet control. Psychological health was strongly related to meaning in life.ConclusionIn Romanian adolescents, meaning in life is a protective factor against health risk behaviors and poor psychological health.

Existential attitudes and Eastern European adolescents' problem and health behaviors: highlighting the role of the search for meaning in life

Although the role of existential attitudes in adolescent health-related behavior has received increased attention recently, historically it has been underinvestigated in the field. The present study focuses on existential attitudes related to meaning in life and hopelessness. Relations of presence of meaning, search for meaning, and hopelessness with past and anticipated future involvement in problem- and health-enhancing behaviors were examined in a cross-sectional study of Eastern European (Transylvania, Romania) adolescents (N = 426, 42.1% males; M age = 16.5 year, range 15–18 years). Results indicated that these existential variables were significantly related to higher levels of healthy behaviors and lower levels of problem behaviors (hopelessness inversely). Among these existential factors, the search for meaning in life was the most significant contributor factor for adolescent behavior. As an overall conclusion, results point to the significant role that the search for meaning in life may play in the relation with adolescents’ problem and health behaviors.

The Role of Individual and Familial Protective Factors in Adolescents’ Diet Control

This study examines a conceptual model linking individual cognitive-behavioral and familial influences to adolescents’ poor diet control as a health-risk behavior. A cross-sectional survey collected data from students enrolled in the secondary schools of the Middle Transylvanian Region, Romania (N = 1977). Self-administered questionnaires were used for data collection. Logistic regression analyses revealed that future-orientation, self-regulation, life purpose, parenting style and parental support were all significant protective factors against adolescents’ poor diet control. While both individual and familial variables act as protection for girls and younger adolescents, for boys and older adolescents, only parental variables are significant.

A reason to stay healthy: the role of meaning in life in relation to physical activity and healthy eating among adolescents

The present longitudinal study investigated the incremental contribution of meaning in life to sustaining health-promoting behaviors, after controlling for well-being and health values among East-European adolescents (N = 456). Time 1 responses on presence of meaning, search for meaning, well-being, and health values were used to predict levels of healthy eating and physical activity 13 months later. All independent variables significantly predicted engagement in healthy eating and physical activity. Presence of meaning and search for meaning were the most robust predictors, and the interaction of them predicted additional variance in healthy eating among boys and physical activity among girls.

A reason to eat healthy: The role of meaning in life in maintaining homeostasis in modern society

Health is a state of homeostasis of four principle kinds, namely, biochemical, physiological, psychological, and social. In this article, we complete this theory with a fifth element, namely, spiritual balance. Existential attitudes have been found to be closely related to identity formation, moral development, value-related attitudes, personal goals, and lifestyle choices. Meaning in life and searching for meaning serve better health since they may encourage people to engage in health-promoting behaviors and avoid health-risking behaviors, such as obesity and eating disorders. The meaning-making model proposes that people’s perceptions may contribute to content/discontent with life, body, and the world.

Individual and parental factors related to meaning in life among Hungarian minority adolescents from Romania

Understanding how adolescents achieve meaning in life has important implications for their psychological development. A social cognitive model of meaning development was tested by assessing psychological (self-efficacy, self-regulation and social comparison) and parental (parental responsiveness, demandingness, and social support) variables in a sample of 1944 adolescents (aged 15-19 years; 47.8% males) from secondary schools of the Middle Transylvanian Region, Romania. Both psychological and parental factors were significantly related to meaning in life. For both boys and girls, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and maternal responsiveness related positively with meaning in life, and paternal demandingness related inversely to meaning in life. However, social comparison related positively to meaning only among boys, and paternal responsiveness related positively to meaning only among girls. Results point to a possible meaning-supporting role played by social cognitive variables, as well as parental autonomy support. The gender differences observed here suggest that existing theories of meaning development may need to be elaborated to include family of origin and gender.

VALUES AND HEALTH-RELATED BEHAVIOUR A Comparison of Youth in Hungary and Transylvania

A number of factors have been investigated as important determinants of adolescent healthrelated behaviour among which values occupy a special place. A growing number of studies of adolescents’ health-related behaviours include cultural factors. The main goal of the present study was to investigate how a set of values preferred by youth influence their health-related behaviours using a cross-cultural study design of samples of youth from Szeged, Hungary (N = 160), and Târgu Mures (Marosvasarhely), Transylvania, Rumania (N = 124). Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The following values were investigated: filial piety, familism, machismo, collectivism and fatalism. In addition, four health-related behaviours were measured: smoking, alcohol use, marijuana use and sports activity. Irrespective of culture, female students tend to prefer filial piety, collectivism, whereas male students reported higher scores on machismo. Male students in Hungary tend to report higher levels of marijuana use, whereas males from the Transylvanian sample report a higher engagement in sports activity. Alcohol use is more common among males in both samples. Some important cultural differences in the relationship between values and health-related behaviours may also be detected. Among youth in Hungary, fatalism is related to higher levels of substance use. Machismo, on the other hand, plays a role in higher levels of sports activity in the Transylvanian sample. Finally, preferring social values, such as filial piety, familism and collectivism, may be associated with lower levels of substance use or higher levels of sports activity, that is, a more favourable health behaviour pattern in both samples.

Social inequalities in self-perceived health: Comparing Hungarian and ethnic minority adolescents from Transylvania, Rumania

The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between parental socioeconomic status (SES) (both objective and subjective) and perceived health in two samples of Eastern European adolescents and to detect gender differences in the background variables. The data used in this study came from two cross-sectional surveys of high school students’ health in Southern Hungary (Szeged and its metropolitan area, N = 881, mean age = 16.6 years, S.D. = 1.3 years) and Middle Transylvania, Rumania (Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy and its metropolitan area, N = 1,977, mean age = 16.8 years, S.D. = 1.0 years). Both objective and subjective social status measures were utilized. SES self-assessment is a strong, universal and gradient-like predictor of adolescents’ self-perceived health. Objective socioeconomic variables are weaker and appear to have a nongradient-like relationship with self-perceived health. The greatest sample difference was that parents’ unemployment status played a greater role in self-perceived health among Transylvanian youth. The role of socioeconomic factors appears to be more salient in girls. Social inequalities in self-perceived health may be detected among adolescents but in seemingly different ways than among adults.