Research On Life Meaning,Self-identity And Depression Of Middle School Students

The founder of logotherapy Frankl(1963)believes that seeking the meaning of life is a fundamental human motivation,feeling meaningful existence is a basic human need.The meaning of life reflects the people’s life and self-understanding and evaluation,including attention to their own existence value,with important life goals and direction,tireless pursuit of personal ideals(Steger,2012).With the transition of the rapid development of China’ s economy and society,the meaning of young people’ s life issues become more prominent.On the basis of Frankl(1963)’ s logotherapy perspective and Steger et al(2006)’ s dual construct of meaning in life(i.e.,presence of meaning,POM,and search for meaning,SFM),this paper aims to explore the mechanism underlying the effect of meaning in life on middle school students’ depression and testify possible interacting and mediating effects.A battery of questionnaires was administered to 612 middle school students from 4 middle schools in Xiao Gan,Hubei,China in order to provide suggestions for deepening the Middle School’ s Education of Life and preventing campus crises,and the results showed that:(1)Students’ POM was negatively associated with depression but positively associated with self-recognition.(2)The mediating effect of self-recognition is notable when POM plays a role in depression.(3)Middle school students’self-identity was negatively associated with depression.