A reason to stay healthy: the role of meaning in life in relation to physical activity and healthy eating among adolescents

Abstract

The present longitudinal study investigated the incremental contribution of meaning in life to sustaining health–promoting behaviors, after controlling for well–being and health values among East–European adolescents (N = 456). Time 1 responses on presence of meaning, search for meaning, well–being, and health values were used to predict levels of healthy eating and physical activity 13 months later. All independent variables significantly predicted engagement in healthy eating and physical activity. Presence of meaning and search for meaning were the most robust predictors, and the interaction of them predicted additional variance in healthy eating among boys and physical activity among girls.