ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1585270
The Effect of Adolescents' Perceived Social Support Types on Sense of Meaning in Life: The Mediating Role of Social-Emotional Competence
Provisionally accepted
- 1Teacher’s College, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
- 2Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China
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Background: Lacking a sense of meaning in life has been linked to negative emotions, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and suicide, and antisocial behavior. While perceived social support influences the sense of meaning in life, existing research has not precisely categorized perceived social support, with limited research on how a sense of meaning in life is expressed. This study aimed to examine how different types of perceived social support affect adolescents' sense of meaning in life and the mediating role of social-emotional competence. Methods: Using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Delaware Social and Emotional Competency Scale, and the Sense of Meaning in Life Scale, data were collected from 1,145 students from four middle schools in Province H, China. Latent profile analysis using Mplus 8.0 identified differences in social-emotional competence and sense of meaning in life across different perceived social support types. The mediating role of social-emotional competence between adolescents' perceived social support types and sense of meaning in life was also examined. Results: A follow-up analysis of the 1,145 data collected showed that: (1)Four potential categories of adolescent perceived social support existed: Poor (6.03%), Rich (25. 15%), Peer-oriented type (7. 16%), and Moderate (61.66%). Adolescents in these categories differed significantly in their social-emotional competence and sense of meaning in life, with both of the latter being stronger among adolescents in the Rich category than those in the Poor category.Taking the Poor type as the reference group, social-emotional competence mediated the relationship between the other groups and the sense of meaning in life. Conclusion: There is variation in adolescents' perceived social support and social-emotional competence, which should be considered when designing interventions to enhance the sense of meaning in life. Educational practice should focus on enhancing adolescents' social-emotional competence and the sense of
Keywords: perceived social support, social-emotional competence, Sense of meaning in life, latent profile analysis, adolescents
Received: 28 Feb 2025; Accepted: 05 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 张, Zhao, Yu and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chao Ma, Shihezi University, Shihezi, 832003, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China
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