Purpose in Life among Youth and their Perceived Hopelessness

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between purpose/meaning in life and hopelessness among young people. A sample was taken from the community population of Multan, Pakistan. An inclusion criterion for sample selection was both females and male adolescents and young adults who fall into the age range of 18–25. The total sample size was N = 50, out of which 42 (84%) were female and 8 (16%) were male. The full version of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to assess the search for meaning and the presence of meaning in life. The Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) was used to assess hopelessness. For better understanding, Urdu translations of both scales were used. A demographic sheet was used to get the basic personal information (i.e., gender, age, and education) of each participant. Along with demographic sheets, some qualitative questions were also added to get some additional information. Issues related to repetition and translation were identified during the pilot study. These issues were considered before conducting the main study. The Meaning in Life sub-scale for search showed good reliability for this study (a=0.8) compared to the previous study (a=0.88). The presence of a meaning sub-scale is associated with a significant relationship in the mean differences between meaning in life and hopelessness (p = 0.04). It is also concluded that with the presence of meaning in one’s life, there is less hopelessness.