Honors Theses
Date of Award
2019
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Stefan Schulenberg
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
The experience of a traumatic event such as a natural disaster can often lead individuals to suffer a variety of negative sequelae, including the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms. However, certain positive psychological constructs like meaning and resilience have been shown to mitigate these consequences. The purpose of this study was to explore the contributions of meaning and resilience to the life satisfaction of individuals (N = 55) impacted by 2017’s Hurricane Harvey. It was hypothesized that not only would meaning and resilience be significantly and positively related to life satisfaction but that meaning would contribute more to the prediction of life satisfaction than resilience. Significant positive relationships were found between meaning and life satisfaction (r = .51, p ≤ .05) and between resilience and life satisfaction (r = .32, p ≤ .05) as was expected. After conducting a multiple regression analysis, meaning was also found to significantly predict life satisfaction (β = .46, t(54) = 3.48, p = .001, pr2 = .19), and did so to a greater extent than resilience (β = .13, t(54) = .97, p = .34, pr2 = .02), which was not a statistically significant predictor in this instance. The implications of these findings are discussed, along with study strengths, limitations, and directions for research.
Recommended Citation
Gawlik, Emily A., "Examining the impact of meaning and resilience on survivors' life satisfaction after Hurricane Harvey" (2019). Honors Theses. 1207.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1207
Accessibility Status
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