生きる意味の類型・深さと実存的空虚感との関連 : 看護学生と大学生の比較から

Abstract

本研究では, 看護学生を対象とし, MEDを用いて, 生きる意味のカテゴリーとその深さについて, 実存的空虚感との関連から分析し, 欧米での先行研究と, 浦田(2005)による大学生のデータとの比較を行う｡今回, 看護学生を対象とするのは, 先行研究において, 青年期における自我同一性確立や死生観のありかたが, 非看護系の大学生とは異なることが指摘されており(中新･谷原･長江･大場･太田･砂田･山口･留田･福山, 2005;糸島, 2005), それらに深く関連すると思われる生きる意味に関する価値観についても, 大学生とは異なる特徴が見出されることが予想されるからである｡ 具体的には, 生きる意味の深さはそれぞれのカテゴリーといかなる関連があるのか, あるいは, 生きる意味のカテゴリーの違いや深さによって, 生きる意味を感じる程度に違いがあるのか, ということを検討することによって, 青年期における生きる意味の様相を明らかにしたい｡

The present study examined the relationship between the types and depth of meaning in life and existential vacuum by comparing nursing students with college students. The Meaning Essay Document (MED) and Existential Vacuum Scale (EVS) were administered to 150 nursing students. To classify the study participants, a new meaning category "being" was added to the original eight categories in the previous study. The main results were as follows: Nursing students reported the category of "growth" as central, followed by "relationships" and "pleasure". The college students also reported these three meaning categories as central. However, a chi-square analysis showed a significant difference between categories; the college students emphasized pleasure more strongly than the nursing students did. The first- grade nursing students scored higher than the second-grade students on the EVS, and those classified as the relationships type scored significantly higher than the pleasure type on the MED and significantly lower on the EVS. The results of this study suggest that interpersonal relationships are important for creating or discovering a deep meaning to life, and that personal pleasure is not necessarily positively related to a deep meaning or purpose in life.