Publication Date
2019
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
First Advisor
Valentiner, David P.
Degree Name
M.A. (Master of Arts)
Legacy Department
Department of Psychology
Abstract
Meaning-making theory posits that appraisal of a stressful event leads to distress if it is discrepant with one’s sense of “global meaning,” and such distress stimulates meaning-making processes aimed at eliminating the discrepancy. If meaning making leads to new meaning (i.e., “meaning made”), the stress-induced discrepancy is reduced, which generally is expected to result in positive adjustment. This study investigated the factorial structure of the meaning made construct using a sample (N = 372) of Amazon Mechanical Turk workers in the United States having “Masters” status and a minimum approval rating of 95%. Participants reported an average age of about 40 years (M = 39.58, SD = 9.99). Approximately half of participants were female (50.3%) and most identified as White (82.8%). Participants identified their most stressful lifetime event and completed measures of meaning made, general affect, well-being, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Exploratory factor analysis of putative measures of meaning made was performed on a randomly selected subsample and led to derivation of four factors, labeled Connectedness, Disillusionment, Resilience, and Understanding. The resulting factor structure was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis, and factor indices generally demonstrated adequate internal consistency. In addition, factor indices exhibited convergent and discriminant validity when compared to Meaning of Loss Codebook codes that were assigned to participants’ brief essay responses to questions regarding meaning made. Last, each factor index demonstrated criterion validity with respect to prediction of well-being and/or posttraumatic stress symptoms. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Despotes, Andrea M., "Assessment of “meaning Made”: An Empirical Examination of Factorial Structure and Measure Validity" (2019). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 6973.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/6973
Extent
170 pages
Language
eng
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.
Media Type
Text
