The Role of Meaning in Life as a Mediator in the Relationship Among Moral Identity, Hope, and Mental Well-being: A Subscale Perspective

Mental Well-being (MW) has become increasingly challenging for university students. Research suggests that fostering hope, moral identity (MI), and meaning in life (MIL) can enhance MW. However, the mechanism by which these variables enhance MW is not clear. This study investigated whether the presence of meaning in life (presence-MIL) mediates the relationships between the agency of hope (agency-HP), the pathway of hope (pathway-HP), the symbolization of meaning (symbolization-MI), and internalization aspects of moral identity (internalization-MI), with MW. The search for meaning in life (search-MIL) is often associated with psychological distress and may negatively affect MW, and this study also examined whether presence-MIL serves as a psychological buffer against this effect.

In this study, a cross-sectional design was employed. Using a stratified sampling technique, 595 students were selected from 10 colleges at Hawassa University, Ethiopia. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, independent t-tests, and structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS.

The results demonstrated that after considering the presence of MIL as a mediator, agency-HP (β =.23, p<.001, CI 95% [0.096–0.204]) and Pathway-HP (β =.11, p<.01, CI 95% [0.013–0.113]) showed significant contribution to MW with a reduced magnitude than the total effect indicating that Presence-MIL is a partial mediator of these relationships. The non-significant contribution of internalization-MI (β =.06, p>.05, CI 95% [-0.013–0.148]) and symbolization-MI (β =-.05, p>.05, CI 95% [-0.120–0.027]) to MW revealed the full mediating role of Presence of MIL. The search-MIL showed no significant connection to MW (β =.02, p>.05, CI 95% [-0.040–0.075]) showing presence-MIL used as a psychological buffer.

The presence of MIL plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between agency-HP and pathway-HP with MW. The relationship between internalization-MI and symbolization-MI and MW was found to be fully mediated by the presence-MIL. The presence-MIL demonstrated the buffering effect against the negative impact of the search-MIL on MW.

The presence of MIL is critical for improving MW. It plays a mediating role in the relationship between Hope and MI with MW. Policy directions, public health interventions, such as hope therapies, and moral treatments to enhance MW should prioritize the incorporation of the MIL for successful outcomes.