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Know thyself: mindfulness partially explains the relationship between personal wisdom and meaning making

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Abstract

Personal wisdom has been identified as a valuable resource in coping with difficult life events. However, previous studies have largely limited their focus on older adults; additionally, these studies have used well-being measures to assess successful coping strategies, which may underrepresent people who are surviving rather than thriving. Consequently, the current study tested if personal wisdom positively predicts meaning making, which is a key indicator of adjustment, and tested whether trait mindfulness partially mediates the relationship between personal wisdom and meaning making. Participants who had gone through an especially difficult life event were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk and completed several self-report measures. Analyses indicated, regardless of age, personal wisdom positively predicts meaning making and mindfulness partially mediates the positive relationship between personal wisdom and meaning making. These findings are consistent with previous research and clarify the mechanisms that account for the positive relationship between personal wisdom and coping with difficult life events.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, USA

    Noah Ringler

  2. Rancho Cucamonga, USA

    Noah Ringler

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  1. Noah Ringler
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Correspondence to Noah Ringler.

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Ringler, N. Know thyself: mindfulness partially explains the relationship between personal wisdom and meaning making. Curr Psychol 42, 5046–5054 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01853-x

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