The Effect Of Family Socioeconomic Status On Undergraduates’ Meaning In Life

In recent years,the frequent occurrence of college student suicides and the concern of domestic higher education workers about the "hollow disease" of college students have continuously drawn people’s attention to meaning in life and the lack of meaning in college student groups.Researchers have performed extensive studies on the meaning in life,however,they rarely address the general patterns of meaning in life’ development at the university level and the role of family socioeconomic status as an important contextual factor in college students’ meaning in life.In view of this,using a mixed research approach to explore the relationship between college students’ family socioeconomic status and their meaning in life,as well as the general patterns of meaning in life development among college students.Study 1 was a qualitative study based on the grounded theory approach,aiming to reveal the general pattern of the development of college students’ meaning in life.This study used semi-structured interviews with 11 college students,coded at three levels using Nvivo12 plus software,to draw the following conclusions:(1)The development of college students’ meaning in life was stage-specific.(2)The meaning in life of college students developed with three elements: cognition,pathway and experience,and the contents of the three elements vary at different stages of development.(3)Family socioeconomic status influenced college students’ meaning in life through "family support","basic psychological needs satisfaction" and " core self-evaluation ".Study 2 was a quantitative study based on the questionnaire method,aiming to reveal the relationship between family socioeconomic status and college students’ meaning in life and its mechanisms.In this study,firstly,based on family investment theory and selfdetermination theory,a theoretical model with family socioeconomic status as the independent variable,core self-evaluation and basic psychological needs satisfaction as the mediating variables,and meaning in life as the dependent variable was constructed.And then,936 valid questionnaires were received using the Family Socioeconomic Status Questionnaire,the Meaning in Life Questionnaire,the SDT Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale,and the Core Self Evaluation Scale as the measurement instruments for the study.Finally,the data were processed and analyzed using SPSS26.0 and PROCESS plug-in,and the following conclusions were drawn.(1)There was a positive relationship between family socioeconomic status and college student’ meaning in life.(2)Core self-evaluation played a mediating role between family socioeconomic status and meaning in life.(3)The satisfaction of basic psychological needs significantly mediated the relationship between family socioeconomic status and meaning in life.(4)Core self-evaluation and basic psychological needs satisfaction played a chain mediated role between family socioeconomic status and meaning in life,at the same time the direct effect of family socioeconomic status on the meaning in life becomes nonsignificant.In conclusion,this study provided a comprehensive explanation of the influence of family socioeconomic status on college students’ meaning in life.It analyzed the role of core self-evaluation and basic psychological needs satisfaction between family socioeconomic status and meaning in life for the first time.This has substantially expanded local research on the meaning in life,and provided theoretical guidance and empirical support for the effective implementation of relevant intervention practices aimed at enhancing the meaning in life of college students.In addition,this study attempted to construct a developmental model of college students’ meaning in life,which provide an essential intellectual foundation for the further development of life education research among college students.