The role of meaning violations in distress following COVID-19 pandemic stressors.

Résumé

BACKGROUND: Different theories pose that the extent to which stressors violate meaning may affect the resulting psychological distress. In this study, we investigated the relation between the extent to which i) -pandemic and ii) -pandemic stressors violated meaning and distress (depression, anxiety, PTSD symptoms) following -pandemic stressors. We hypothesised that these meaning violations would be positively related to distress and that changes in life meaning over time would mediate the link between peri-pandemic meaning violations and post-stressor distress.METHOD: A population-representative sample of Germans aged 45 to 70 ( = 380) completed online questionnaires in May-July 2020 and June-July 2021. We investigated the predictive relations with correlation, regression, and mediation analyses.RESULTS: Peri-pandemic and pre-pandemic meaning violations were positively related to distress following peri-pandemic stressors. Changes in life meaning did not mediate the link between peri-pandemic meaning violations and post-stressor distress.CONCLUSION: Meaning violations may constitute a risk factor for post-stressor distress. Since meaning can be restored after a violation, research and clinical practice may benefit from considering the role of meaning-making in adaptation to stressors and recovery from distress.