Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Abstract

Background & Objectives: Students are one of the main parts of human resources in any country. Loneliness is one of the prevalent youth problems that can prevent students from being motivated to achieve self–actualization and efficacy. Achieving a sense of self–actualization requires support that students can receive from society and the surrounding environment to get their personality formed. On the other hand, life meaning refers to a sense of communication with the creator of the universe, having a goal in life, the pursuit and meeting of valuable goals, and fulfilling perfection. Life's meaning is, in essence, a cognitive nature because it involves people's beliefs about an ultimate goal. When an individual feels that his existence is tied to an eternal source and sees himself holding fast to reliable support, like a spiritual world and philosophy he has chosen for living, then he will find meaning; for this, the goal of this study was to investigate finding meaning in life and self–actualization, moderated by loneliness in students of Islamic Azad University.

Methods: This research was a correlational cross–sectional study using structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the research comprised all students of Islamic Azad University of Shiraz in the academic year of 2021–2022, out of which 200 students were selected as a sample using the available sampling method. The data collection tools were the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults–Short (DiTomaso et al., 2004), the Index of Self Actualization (Jones and Crandall, 1986), and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (Steger et al., 2006). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 24 and SmartPLS version 3 software, which performed the structural equation modeling method at a significance level of 0.05.

Results: The results showed that meaning in life had a positive and significant direct effect (β=0.464, p<0.001), and the feeling of loneliness had a negative and significant direct effect (β=–0.409, p<0.001) on self–actualization. Loneliness had a moderating effect on the relationship between meaning in life and self–actualization (β= –0.122, p=0.001). Stone–Geisler's Q² index (0.289) was positive, the R² value (0.745) was higher than the average, the effect size index (f²) (0.182) was higher than the average, and the redundancy index (0.311) was favorable, indicating a good fit of the structural model. The resulting values for SRMR=0.073 and GOF=0.405 indicated the overall good fit of the model.
Conclusion: According to the study findings on the moderating role of loneliness in the relationship between meaning in life and self–actualization in male and female students, reduced experiences of loneliness could help find meaning in life and, consequently, create motivation in students to achieve self–actualization.