The role of intolerance of uncertainty in the relationship between daily search for and presence of meaning in life

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v11i1.1079

Keywords:

meaning, intolerance of uncertainty, search for meaning, personality processes, daily diary

Abstract

People who are highly intolerant of uncertainty have a propensity to fear the unknown, which influences perceptions and desires for control and predictability (Carleton, 2016). Processes related to searching for and maintaining meaning might deviate based on intolerance of uncertainty as meaning-making can be spurred by breakdowns in one’s sense of understanding or predictability (Park, 2010). The current study was designed to examine within-person relationships between daily search for and presence of meaning, while investigating how people’s intolerance of uncertainty (IU) influences the search-presence relationship. During a three-week daily diary study, results showed that daily search significantly predicted same-day presence and presence the following day. IU significantly moderated the effects of search on presence such that people who were highly intolerant of uncertainty experienced less presence when they engaged in searching than low IU participants. Results suggest researchers should consider the potential consequences of IU in limiting the development of a vital well-being resource, presence of meaning.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Jessica L Morse, Colorado State University

Ph.D. student, Counseling Psychology, Department of Psychology

Mark A Prince, Colorado State University

Assistant Professor Counseling Psychology, Associate Director of Addiction Counseling, Department of Psychology 

 

Michael F Steger, Colorado State University

Center for Meaning and Purpose

Professor, Department of Psychology, Colorado State University 

Optentia Research Programme, North-West University, Vanderbijklpark, South Africa

Downloads

Published

2021-01-31

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2021)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2021 Jessica L Morse, Mark A Prince, Michael F Steger

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. The license prevents others from using the work for profit without the express consent of the author(s). The license also prevents the creation of derivative works without the express consent of the author(s). Note that derivative works are very similar in nature to the original. Merely quoting (and appropriately referencing) a passage of a work is not making a derivative of it.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).