International Journal of Psychology, 2013

Vol. 48, No. 3, 308315, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2011.645483

Individual and parental factors related to meaning

in life among Hungarian minority adolescents
from Romania

Laszlo Brassai1, Bettina F. Piko2, and Michael F. Steger3

1
Psychological Consulting Center, Saint George, Romania
2
Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
3
Colorado State University, Department of Psychology, Fort Collins, CO, USA

U nderstanding how adolescents achieve meaning in life has important implications for their psychological
development. A social cognitive model of meaning development was tested by assessing psychological (self-
efficacy, self-regulation and social comparison) and parental (parental responsiveness, demandingness, and social
support) variables in a sample of 1944 adolescents (aged 1519 years; 47.8% males) from secondary schools of the
Middle Transylvanian Region, Romania. Both psychological and parental factors were significantly related to
meaning in life. For both boys and girls, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and maternal responsiveness related
positively with meaning in life, and paternal demandingness related inversely to meaning in life. However, social
comparison related positively to meaning only among boys, and paternal responsiveness related positively to
meaning only among girls. Results point to a possible meaning-supporting role played by social cognitive
variables, as well as parental autonomy support. The gender differences observed here suggest that existing
theories of meaning development may need to be elaborated to include family of origin and gender.

Keywords: Meaning in life; Adolescence; Psychological (socio-cognitive) factors; Parental factors.

C omprendre comment les adolescents donnent un sens a` la vie a des implications importantes pour leur
developpement psychologique. Un mode`le social cognitif du developpement du sens a ete teste en evaluant
des variables psychologiques (efficacite personnelle, autoregulation et comparaison sociale) et parentales (reponse
parentale, exigence parentale et soutien social). Letude fut realisee aupre`s dun echantillon de 1944 adolescents
(agees entre 15 et 19 ans; 47,8% de garcons) provenant decoles secondaires de la region centrale de la
Transylvanie en Roumanie. A` la fois les facteurs psychologiques et parentaux etaient significativement associes
au sens a` la vie. Pour les garcons et les filles, lefficacite personnelle, lautoregulation et la reponse maternelle
etaient positivement reliees au sens a` la vie, tandis que lexigence paternelle etait negativement reliee au sens a` la
vie. Cependant, la comparaison sociale etait positivement associee au sens a` la vie seulement chez les garcons,
alors que la reponse paternelle etait positivement reliee au sens a` la vie seulement chez les filles. Les resultats
reve`lent que les variables cognitives sociales, tout comme le soutien parental a` lautonomie, joueraient
possiblement un role sur les plans de la signification et du soutien. Les differences liees au genre observees dans
cette etude sugge`rent que les theories actuelles du developpement du sens peuvent necessiter davantage
delaboration dans le but dy inclure la famille dorigine et le genre.

L a comprension acerca de como los adolescentes alcanzan el significado de la vida tiene consecuencias
importantes para su desarrollo psicologico. Se puso a prueba un modelo sociocognitivo del desarrollo del
significado por medio de la evaluacion de variables psicologicas (autoeficacia, autorregulacion y comparacion
social) y parentales (capacidad de respuesta parental, demandas o exigencia y apoyo social) en una muestra de
1944 adolescentes (de entre 15 y 19 anos de edad; 47,8% varones) de los colegios secundarios de la Region
Central de Transilvania, Rumania. Tanto los factores psicologicos como los parentales se relacionaron
significativamente con el sentido de la vida. Para los adolescentes de ambos sexos, la autoeficacia, la
autorregulacion y la capacidad de respuesta materna se relaciono positivamente con el sentido de la vida, y la

Correspondence should be addressed to Laszlo Brassai, Psychological Consulting Center, 520023 Victor Babes street 15/C,
Kovaszna County, Saint George, Romania. (E-mail: brassail@yahoo.com).

2013 International Union of Psychological Science

 FACTORS RELATED TO MEANING IN LIFE IN ADOLESCENCE 309

exigencia paterna se relaciono inversamente con el significado de la vida. Sin embargo, la comparacion social se
relaciono positivamente con el sentido de la vida solo en los varones, mientras que la respuesta paterna solamente
se relaciono positivamente con el sentido de la vida en las chicas. Los resultados apuntan a una posible funcion de
soporte para el sentido de la vida de parte de las variables sociocognitivas, como as tambien del apoyo a la
autonom a por parte de los padres. Las diferencias de genero observadas en este art culo sugieren que las teor as
existentes del desarrollo de significado necesitar an ser revisadas para incluir a la familia de origen y el genero.

According to Steger, Frazier, Oishi, and Kaler,
(2006), meaning in life [is] the sense made of, and
significance felt regarding, the nature of ones
being and existence (p. 81). Meaning in this sense
enables people to interpret and organize their
experience, achieve a sense of their own worth and
place, identify the things that matter to them, and
effectively direct their energies. Thus in the present
study, we focused on the overarching concept of
meaning, which we understand to incorporate
both comprehension and purpose (Steger, 2009).
(It is worth mentioning that in another view,
whereas meaning in life refers to all highly valued
life goals, purpose refers only to a subset of life
goals that represent a concern with issues beyond
the self: Bronk & Finch, 2010; Damon, Menon, &
Bronk, 2003).
MEANING FORMATION IN
ADOLESCENCE
The construction of meaning in life starts quite
early in development, and is a powerful motivating
force in the identity formation of adolescents
(Erikson, 1968). It is thought that adolescents
achieve identities by integrating the myriad, and
sometimes contradictory, information generated
by different sources in their environment in order
to create a comprehensive image of the world
around them. Damon and colleagues (2003) have
suggested that successful moral development of
adolescents requires an additional development of
valued life goals (which should ideally reflect a
desire to make a positive impact on others). Thus,
identity and moral development should proceed
through making sense of the world and finding
purpose, dovetailing with theories of meaning in
life. Empirical research generally supports a close
relationship between meaning in life and positive
youth development (Beaumont, 2009). Meaning in
life is related to a wide range of indicators of
positive psychological functioning (quality of life,
psychological wellbeing, low psychosomatic symp-
toms) in adolescence (Brassai, Piko, & Steger,
2011). Accordingly, adolescents who fail to
develop meaning in life appear susceptible to
negative experiences, such as a lost sense of control
in life, and substance abuse (Newcomb & Harlow,
1986).
Despite the importance of meaning in life to
adolescents, the question of how meaning develops
is difficult to answer. Integrative models of how
meaning in life develops over the lifespan have
only recently been proposed (although ideas
specific to purpose have been articulated; Damon
et al., 2003). The purpose of the present study is to
continue to elaborate, and empirically test, a social
cognitive model of meaning development. Steger,
Bundick, and Yeager (in press) argue that three
social-cognitive factors should play leading roles in
adolescent meaning development: cognitive devel-
opment, identity and self-understanding, and
social learning. In this social cognitive perspective,
meaning is seen to arise from adolescents abilities
to navigate the social world and develop self-
regulatory resources, and establish autonomy. To
further specify the discrete social cognitive vari-
ables suggested by this model, we draw upon
earlier work by Fry (1998).
Fry (1998) argued that adolescents must develop
both psychological (e.g., life skills for effective
coping and adapting to societal expectancies) and
social (i.e., peers and family) assets to attain
meaning in life. Using qualitative methods, Fry
found that meaning in life was connected to an
intrinsic need for environmental mastery, which
would be pursued through developing a sense of
self-efficacy and effective self-regulation. Further,
young people seemed to express a need to maintain
self-esteem through constructive self-enhancing
evaluations. This research provides ways of
expanding on the components identified by
Steger and colleagues (in press). We will first
focus on connecting the primarily psychological
variables Fry identified with the social cognitive
model. These include self-efficacy, self-regulation,
and social comparison.
Self-efficacy has previously been identified as a
need for meaning (Baumeister, 1991). Self-
efficacy refers to an optimistic belief in ones own
abilities to accomplish tasks and goals (Schwarzer
& Jerusalem, 1995). The view that one can
accomplish goals is relevant to adolescents per-
ceptions that they can, and ought to, pursue a
310 BRASSAI, PIKO, STEGER
valued life purpose. Although self-efficacy is
typically assessed in terms of discrete domains
such as school or work, global self-efficacy is more
relevant because a life purpose is broad, complex,
and not constrained to a single domain of life
(Skrabski, Kopp, Rozsa, Rethelyi, & Rahe, 2005).
Thus, global self-efficacy should help build a
foundation that gives an adolescent the confidence
to apply effort toward a life purpose. Whereas self-
efficacy should provide the confidence to apply
effort, self-regulation captures the controlled
deployment of that effort. Self-regulation refers
to intentionally direct effort toward particular
objectives, whether by regulating time, attention,
or behavioral responses. For example, self-regulat-
ing attention helps people attend to meaningful
environmental stimuli without being distracted by
irrelevant stimuli (Luszczynska, Diehl, Gutierrez-
Dona, Kuusinen, & Schwarzer, 2004). By devel-
oping this ability, adolescents should be able to
maintain attention on resources that help them
progress toward their life purpose, and better resist
distractions and pitfalls. Self-efficacy and self-
regulation work reciprocally, and together help
inform identity and self-understanding (Steger
et al., in press). Thus, self-efficacy and self-
regulation dovetail both with Steger and collea-
gues (in press) emphasis on identity and
self-understanding and with Frys (1998) emphasis
on environmental mastery. In addition, research
supports the positive association of self-regulatory
variables (life control) and meaning in life in
adolescence (Newcomb & Harlow, 1986).
As several scholars have noted, meaning origi-
nates in early interpersonal relations and social
transactions (Fry, 1998; Steger et al., in press).
Much of this meaning-making is derived from
internalized mental models of important others,
and meaning-making is particularly fostered when
these models encourage engagement with the
world (Tronick & Beeghly, 2011). One way
adolescents make meaning is through social
comparison, which arises from motivations to
evaluate, improve, and enhance the self (e.g.,
Gibbons & Buunk, 1999). Thus, through social
comparison, adolescents may increase their self-
understanding and engage in social learning
(Steger et al., in press). Social comparisons provide
a critical link between the psychological and the
social assets that Fry identified. We next discuss
the social assets we focused on.
Among potential social partners, theory
(Tronick & Beeghly, 2011) and research (Lambert
et al., 2010) point toward the primary importance
of parents. Parents influence their children in
multiple ways, of course. Because theories of
meaning in life stress the individually constructed
nature of the variable, we focused on parental
factors that impact autonomy development among
adolescents: parental support, and parental
demandingness and responsiveness (Baumrind,
1991). Parental support captures the extent to
which an adolescent feels appreciated and encour-
aged by his or her parents. Responsiveness refers to
the extent to which parents are warm, accepting,
and involved. Demandingness refers to the extent
to which parents exert control, demand maturity,
and actively supervise their children. In the midst of
identity formation, when instability and identity
variability are at their peak, parental support and
responsiveness may improve adolescents auton-
omy and authentic self-expression. On the other
hand, demandingness may attenuate autonomy, as
parents exert control and enforce their expectations
about behavior, rather than accepting their childs
self-expression. Whereas parental support and
responsiveness should foster meaning in life
(Lambert et al., 2010), demandingness should
inhibit positive psychological functioning (Deci &
Ryan, 2000; Shek, 2007). Taken together, these
results lead us to hypothesize that the psychological
assets of self-efficacy, self-regulation, and social
comparison practices, as well as parental
assets of support and responsiveness, would be
positively related to meaning in life, whereas
demandingness would be negatively related to
meaning in life.
GENDER AND CULTURE
Gender and culture have been implicated in the
basic processes of meaning in life (e.g., Steger,
Kawabata, Shimai, & Otake, 2008). Cross-cultural
research on meaning has focused on comparing
countries from different extremes of individualism
and collectivism (e.g., Steger et al., 2008). In
collectivistic societies, social contexts and roles
enforce more constraints than in individualistic
societies. The primary literature on gender, par-
enting, and meaning comes from a collectivistic
culture (i.e., Hong Kong). In this research,
parenting practices (particularly demandingness)
were found to more strongly impact girls psycho-
logical functioning than boys (Shek, 2007). There
is reason to believe that socially and morally
correct behavior, transmitted through parental
practices, receives more emphasis for girls than
boys, even beyond the specific cultural context of
Sheks study (2004). This fits with an interpreta-
tion that boys are more likely to be supported in
fostering uniqueness, autonomy, and social
 FACTORS RELATED TO MEANING IN LIFE IN ADOLESCENCE 311
TABLE 1
Descriptive statistics for meaning in life and related factors

Whole sample Boys Girls

Factors (N 1944) (N 929) (N 1015) Significancea Effect sizeb

Meaning in life: M (SD) (0) 8.7 (2.2) (.86) 13.8 (2.1) 13.9 (2.1) NS .05
Parental factors: M (SD) (0)
Mothers responsiveness 14.6 (4.1) (.96) 14.7 (3.5) 14.8 (3.3) NS .03
Mothers demandingness 7.5 (4.3) (.85) 6.6 (4.0) 7.7 (3.9) p 5 .001 .27
Fathers responsiveness 13.0 (5.2) (.98) 13.8 (4.2) 12.4 (3.9) p 5 .001 .35
Fathers demandingness 6.5 (4.8) (.95) 5.4 (4.3) 6.7 (5.1) NS .07
Satisfaction with social support from mother 13.6 (4.2) (.99) 13.5 (4.1) 13.9 (4.0) p 5 .05 .10
Satisfaction with social support from father 11.6 (5.2) (.99) 12.2 (4.8) 11.7 (4.7) p 5 .05 .11
Psychological factors: M (SD) (0)
Perceived self-efficacy 18.5 (5.5) (.94) 19.8 (5.9) 17.8 (4.1) p 5 .001 .40
Self-regulatory behavior 11.7 (4.2) (.85) 12.9 (3.9) 10.4 (3.6) p 5 .001 .40
Social comparison 22.3 (8.1) (.79) 23.4 (7.4) 21.2 (7.1) p 5 .001 .30
a
Students t-tests; beffect size was measured by Cohens d: .20 small effect, .50 medium effect, .80 large effect.

competence (Luszczynska et al., 2004), which may
drive higher interest in social comparison for boys
than for girls (Kemmelmeier & Oyserman, 2001).
Thus the social cognitive variables discussed above
may have differential relations with meaning in life
depending on gender.
The purpose of the present study is to further
elaborate, and test, a social cognitive model of
meaning in life in adolescence. We assessed key
psychological and parental variables in a large
sample of collectivistic Eastern European adoles-
cents, hypothesizing that psychological assets that
promote self-understanding and social learning
(i.e., self-efficacy, self-regulation, social compar-
ison) and parental assets that promoted autonomy
development (i.e., high support, high responsive-
ness, low demandingness) would be related to
meaning in life. We further speculated that
parental support (which promotes autonomy
development) might be particularly important for
boys, and parental responsiveness and demand-
ingness might be particularly important for girls
(cf. Shek, 2004).
METHOD
Sample
Data were collected from students enrolled in the
secondary schools of the Middle Transylvanian
(Hungarian ethnic majority) Region, Romania.
Multistage sampling was used, first identifying
towns, then high schools, and finally randomly
selecting classes, yielding a subject pool of 2152
students, of whom 1977 returned the questionnaire
(response rate 91.9%). The final sample
consisted of 1944 students who met age criteria
(1519 years of age; Mage 16.8 years, SD 1.0),
52.2% of whom were female.
Procedure
Parental permissions were obtained prior to the
start of the study. Students were given a brief
explanation of the objectives of the study and
instructions for filling out the questionnaire.
Participation in the study was voluntary, and
confidentiality was ensured.
Measures
Only scales that had been validated in
Hungarian speaking population samples were
used in the present study. Cronbachs alpha
coefficients for all scales are presented in Table 1.
Meaning in life was measured by the Life
Meaning (LM) subscale of the Brief Stress and
Coping Inventory (BSCI) developed by Rahe and
Tolles (2002). The LM is the only measure of
meaning in life that has been validated in a
representative Hungarian-speaking sample
(Skrabski et al., 2005). The eight items on the
LM are consistent with those on other meaning in
life questionnaires, with most being centrally
focused on prevalent notions of meaning (e.g.,
I feel my life is part of a larger plan; My life
has no direction and meaning; I doubt that my
life makes a difference). Items are rated from 1
(No) to 3 (Frequently); high scores indicate high
life meaning.
The General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale (SE;
Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995) was used to measure
312 BRASSAI, PIKO, STEGER
global confidence in ones ability to deal with
challenges (e.g., I can always manage to solve
difficult problems if I try hard enough). Ten items
are rated from 1 (Not at all true) to 4 (Exactly
true). High scores indicate greater self-efficacy.
The Self-Regulation Scale (SRS; Luszczynska
et al., 2004) was used to measure self-regulation of
attention (e.g., I can control my thoughts from
distracting me from the task at hand). Seven
items are rated from 1 (Not at all true) to 4
(Completely true). High scores indicate greater
self-regulation.
The IowaNetherlands Comparison Orientation
Measure (INCOM; Gibbons & Buunk, 1999) was
used to measure the tendency to compare oneself
to others in different life areas (e.g., I always pay
a lot of attention to how I do things compared
with how others do things). Eleven items were
rated from 1 (I disagree strongly) to 5 (I agree
strongly). High scores indicate greater tendencies
for social comparison.
The Measures of Perceived Social Support
(MPSS; Turner & Marino, 1994) was used to
assess parental social support. Satisfaction with
maternal and with paternal social support were
assessed using six item scales (e.g. I feel very close
to my mother/father; I often feel really appre-
ciated by my mother/father). Items were rated
from 1 (Not at all like my experience) to 4 (Very
much like my experience). High scores indicate
greater perceived maternal/paternal support.
The Authoritative Parenting Index (Jackson,
Henriksen, & Foshee, 1998) was used to assess
Baumrinds (1991) dimensions of parenting:
demandingness and responsiveness. Both maternal
and paternal social support was assessed using
20-item scales (e.g., maternal responsiveness: She
likes me just the way I am; maternal demanding-
ness: She has rules that I must follow). Items
were rated from 1 (Not like her/him) to 4 (Just like
her/him). High scores indicate greater responsive-
ness or demandingness.
RESULTS
Statistical analysis
Gender differences on scale means were computed
using Students t-tests. Interrelationships between
psychological factors, parental factors and mean-
ing in life were assessed by multiple regression
analysis for whole sample, and for boys and girls
separately. After analyzing the normality of
distribution (with Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics)
we applied logarithmic transformation to decrease
the deviation. There was no significant multi-
collinearity (variance inflation factor from 1.20 to
1.96), nor significant outliers (standard residuals
from 1.89 to 2.73).
Descriptive statistics
Boys reported higher levels of self-efficacy, self-
regulation, and social comparisons, as well as
greater satisfaction with social support from
father, more fathers responsiveness, less maternal
demandingness, and satisfaction with maternal
social support (see Table 1).
Multiple regressions
To assess predictors of meaning, parental factors
were entered in Step 1 of a multiple regression,
followed by psychological factors in Step 2. Across
the full sample, all factors were significantly
related to meaning with moderate effect sizes
(|.16| to |.23|), except for maternal demandingness
(see Table 2), accounting for 38% of the variance
in meaning in life scores. Only fathers demand-
ingness was negatively related to meaning in life;
all other variables were positively related.
When boys and girls were examined separately,
two differences emerged. First, social comparisons
were positively related to meaning in life only
among boys. Second, paternal responsiveness,
andunlike our hypothesisparental support
was more significant for girls meaning in life but
paternal demandingness was not.
DISCUSSION
Adolescence is a formative period for cultivating
meaning in life (Beaumont, 2009; Erikson, 1968).
As recent social cognitive models have argued
(Steger, 2009; Steger et al., in press), to succeed in
this effort, adolescents need to find and pursue
valued goals, develop a coherent and authentic
self-understanding, learn to direct effort and
attention toward important aims, and establish
autonomy (Deci & Ryan, 2000). This study
represents the first effort to test key facets of a
coherent theoretical model for how meaning in life
develops among adolescents. Previous research has
been typified by ad hoc collections of variables,
and reporting based on bivariate relations, requir-
ing integration both in theory and in empirical
testing. The present study builds on emerging
social cognitive models of meaning in life, and also
integrates key indicators of psychological and
 FACTORS RELATED TO MEANING IN LIFE IN ADOLESCENCE 313
TABLE 2
Regression analyses predicting meaning in life including parental and individual factors

Whole sample (N 1944) Boys (N 929) Girls (N 1015)

a SEb VIFc a SEb VIFc a SEb VIFc

Parental factors
Mothers responsiveness .17*** .01 1.0 .15* .02 1.4 .16** .03 1.5
Mothers demandingness .05 .06 2.1 .05 .04 2.6 .07 .01 1.2
Fathers responsiveness .16** .02 1.9 .08 .01 1.3 .18*** .04 1.2
Fathers demandingness .18*** .03 1.5 .14* .03 1.7 .14* .01 1.0
Satisfaction with social support from mother .20*** .02 1.3 .16** .03 1.3 .16** .03 1.2
Satisfaction with social support from father .20*** .03 1.0 .14* .02 1.0 .19*** .03 1.3
DR2 .18*** .14*** .23***
Psychological factors
Perceived self-efficacy .21*** .03 1.1 .18*** .04 1.7 .20*** .02 1.8
Self-regulatory behavior .23*** .02 1.3 .23*** .03 1.9 .16** .02 1.9
Social comparison .17*** .01 1.1 .17*** .03 1.6 .09 .05 2.9
DR2 .20*** .19*** .12***

Constant 26.910*** 17.714*** 20.017***

R2 .38*** .34*** .35***

*p 5 .05; **p 5 .01; ***p 5 .001. aStandardized regression coefficients; bstandard error; cvariance inflation factor (VIF): from 1 to
2 low multicollinearity, from 2 to 5 medium multicollinearity, 4 5 strong multicollinearity; changes in R2.

parental contributors to meaning in multivariate we speculated that parental support would be

analysis for the first time.
Results from a large sample of Romanian
adolescents linked both sets of variables to
adolescent meaning in life. As hypothesized, self-
efficacy and self-regulation (and social comparison
among boys) were positively related to meaning in
life. In addition, feeling that ones parents were
supportive and responsive was positively related to
meaning in life. The variables assessed in the
present study are linked conceptually to the two
major components of meaning in life: comprehen-
sion and purpose. The parental variables of
support and responsiveness and the psychological
variable, social comparison, should help adoles-
cents build a positively valenced mental model of
the world around them, which supports compre-
hension. The psychological variables of self-
efficacy and self-regulation bear on adolescents
confidence in pursuing important goals and their
abilities to direct their attention and effort toward
those aims, which supports purpose.
We attempted to predict how these variables
would differentially impact boys and girls based on
the small amount of existing literature. In research
on Hong Kong adolescents, Shek (2004, 2007)
found that parenting impacted girls more than
boys. Other research found that parents often
placed more constraints on girls, and appeared to
provide more autonomy support for boys
(Luszczynska et al., 2004). Based on this research,
more important for supporting boys meaning and
that parental responsiveness and demandingness
would be more important for girls meaning. Our
results provided only partial support for these
hypotheses. For example, paternal demandingness
was negatively related to meaning in life for both
boys and girls, and maternal demandingness was
unrelated to meaning in life. Another unexpected
result was that social comparison was related to
meaning only among boys.
These results should be interpreted carefully in
light of the limited range of cultures in which
similar research has been carried out. One way of
interpreting the results is by focusing on the gender
of the adolescent. Social comparison may empha-
size ways in which boys are unique and self-
expressive, and may instead highlights points of
deviation from others in girls (Gibbons & Buunk,
1999; Kemmelmeier & Oyserman, 2001). The
difference in emphasis may augment the benefits
of positive social comparisons for boys and
neutralize any benefits for girls.
However, another way to look at our results is
in terms of the gender of parents. Self-determina-
tion theory views autonomy development as a
critical factor in successful development and the
achievement of wellbeing (Deci & Ryan, 2000).
Parenting that inhibits autonomy development
should be toxic to meaning, and parenting that
promotes autonomy should nourish meaning. In
314 BRASSAI, PIKO, STEGER
the present sample, one of the points of conver-
gence for both boys and girls was that paternal
demandingness was negatively related to meaning
in life. For fathers, autonomy interference may
detract from meaning for both sons and daughters.
The other point of convergence was that maternal
responsiveness was positively related to meaning
for both boys and girls. While mothers appear to
play a nurturing role in terms of adolescents
striving for autonomy, fathers may restrict it.
Correspondingly, maternal demandingness was
unrelated to meaning in life. However, in contrast
to this relatively rigid view, fathers responsiveness
was positive for girls. One possibility is that
nurturance is typically left to mothers and
discipline is left to fathers in Romania. When
parents embrace their respective roles to an
extreme degree, it may interfere with typical
adolescent development. When responsive fathers
allow autonomy development for daughters, it
goes against the cultural inclination and provides
benefits. The present findings further highlight the
impact of both mothers and fathers on child
wellbeing, especially for fathers and their daugh-
ters (see also Shek, 2004). More research on
parenting patterns in Eastern European contexts
is needed to determine whether these results
generalize to other populations, and whether our
interpretation of them is tenable.
These results must be interpreted in the light of
several limitations. The present research is limited
by the use of cross-sectional, self-report methods.
In addition, the specific cultural context (Eastern
Europe) may limit the generalizability of the
present data. However, this may also be a strength,
as the present research supports previous findings
from other cultural contexts. Future research
should use longitudinal research designs, in other
cultural contexts, to examine the temporal rela-
tions among these psychological and parental
variables, taking account of gender differences.
In addition, other important psychological vari-
ables should be included in future research,
such as hope, and the role of nonparental mentor-
ing and peer relationships in meaning develop-
ment. Based on the present results, the social
cognitive model of meaning development among
adolescents (Steger et al., in press) appears viable.
Future research should focus on identifying the
causal mechanisms through which these psycho-
logical and parental factors contribute to meaning
in life.
Manuscript received November 2010
Revised manuscript accepted August 2011
First published online March 2012
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