Search for meaning alleviated individual depressive symptoms during COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of optimism

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent quarantine measures have disrupted people's normal pace of life and created excessive pressure. The current study examined the mitigating effect of search for meaning in life on individual depressive symptoms and the mediating role of optimism during COVID-19 lockdown period. A total of 462 participants (M_age = 37.42 years, SD = 13.15, 166 males) residing in Wuhan, China were recruited online at the beginning of April 2020 when the city was still under lockdown measures. Data were collected four times spanning from April to May 2020, with an interval of roughly 2 weeks in between. The results indicated that search for meaning and optimism was positively correlated with each other concurrently, and both of them were negatively correlated with depressive symptoms. Specifically, search for meaning at T1 could positively predict optimism at T2, which in turn negatively predicted depressive symptoms at T3, suggesting that optimism acted as the mediator for the buffering effects of search for meaning on one's depressive symptoms. Results highlighted the protective role of search for meaning for individual psychological adjustment under such adverse situation as COVID-19 epidemic, and provided practical implications for people to deal with stressful period like quarantine.