Generalized self-efficacy, positive cognitions, and negative cognitions as mediators of the relationship between conscientiousness and meaning in life.

Meaning in life (MIL) is a core construct in eudaimonic theories of well-being and an important predictor of physical and psychological health. Although many studies have found that the personality variable conscientiousness has a particular strong relationship to MIL, the mechanisms underlying this relationship have not been examined. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the conscientiousness–MIL relationship would be mediated by generalized self-efficacy beliefs and, hence, more positive and fewer negative automatic cognitions. Measures of these constructs were administered to 273 college student volunteers recruited from a larger pool of students in classes and via e-mail solicitation, and the model was analyzed using structural equation modelling. As hypothesized, generalized self-efficacy, positive thoughts, and negative thoughts fully mediated the conscientiousness–MIL relationship. The model accounted for 45% of the variance in MIL, 34% of the variance in positive thoughts, 27% of the variance in negative thoughts, and 35% of the variance in generalized self-efficacy. These results suggest that conscientiousness shapes MIL through raising generalized self-efficacy, increasing frequency of positive thoughts, and decreasing frequency of negative thoughts.