Author: Nuzhat-ul-Ain
Supervisor: Rukhsana Kausar PhD
Degree: MS
Year: 2015-2017
University: Centre for Clinical Psychology, Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
The present correlational study was aimed to examine the
relationship between Meaning in Life, Gerotranscendence and Mental Health of Institutionalized elderly and elderly living with
families. It was hypothesized that Gerotranscendence is likely to
mediate the relationship between Meaning in Life and Mental
Health of Elderly. A sample of 200 elderly including 100
(Mage=69.66, SD= 6.63) from old homes of Lahore through nonpurposive sampling and 100 elderly living with their
family(Mage=65.89, SD= 5.79) in Lahore through snowball
sampling were recruited. Assessment was done using Urdu
versions of Meaning in Life Questionnaire (Steger, Frazier, Oishi
& Kaler, 2006), Gerotranscendence Scale (Tornstam, 1997) and
Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (Lamers, Westerhof,
Bohlmeier, Klooster & Keyes, 2011). Through Pearson Moment
Correlation significant positive relationship between meaning in
life, gero-transcendence and mental health was found. Overall
analysis reported meaning in life to be the significant direct
predictor of gero-transcendence and mental health while presence
of meaning in life significantly predicted mental health while
keeping gero-transcendence as mediator. In both groups, presence
of meaning in life and gero-transcendence predicted mental
health. Presence of meaning in life directly and indirectly
predicted mental health among elderly living with families. Both
presence and Search for meaning in life were significant direct
and indirect predictors of mental health in elderly living in old
homes. The results were discussed in the light of previous
literature and theoretical background.
Keywords: Gero-transcendence, Institutionalized Elderly, Meaning in Life, Mental Health.
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