Longitudinal associations of experiential and reflective dimensions of meaning in life with psychopathological symptoms

Rather than being rooted in deliberate reflection, the experience of meaning has been shown to evolve from intuitive processes (Heintzelman & King, 2013b, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6527-6_7). Accordingly, experiential and reflective dimensions of meaning in life can be distinguished (Hill et al., 2019, https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070.2018.1434483). In this preregistered study, we explored how these dimensions are longitudinally associated with psychopathological symptoms. We expected that experiencing more meaning would predict fewer depressive symptoms and fewer personality functioning impairments six months later, whereas reflecting about meaning would predict more psychopathological symptoms.