Meaning in life and adolescent depression and anxiety in China: a large-scale study of dual pathways through life satisfaction and resilience

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a formative yet vulnerable developmental period, marked by heightened emotional volatility and risk for depression and anxiety. Meaning in life (MiL)-the sense that one's existence is purposeful, significant, and coherent-has been proposed as a key psychological resource, but its mechanisms affecting mental health in non-Western youth remain under-examined. This study investigated associations between MiL and psychological outcomes, and tested whether life satisfaction and resilience mediated these relationships. METHODS: Data in this study were drawn from the Guangdong Adolescents Mental Health Survey conducted between September and December 2023, which included 5,759 adolescents. Spearman's rank correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationships among the research variables. Mediation analysis was employed to examine the mechanism through which MiL influences mental health. RESULTS: The presence of meaning was strongly associated with lower depression and anxiety and higher life satisfaction and resilience. Mediation analyses showed that life satisfaction and resilience partially accounted for these effects, with life satisfaction emerging as the dominant pathway. In contrast, search for meaning exhibited mixed associations, predicting greater distress once indirect effects were controlled, suggesting that existential exploration may entail short-term costs during identity formation. CONCLUSIONS: Meaning in life functions as both a stabilising and developmental force in adolescent mental health-buffering distress through satisfaction and resilience while reflecting normative struggles for identity and coherence. Cultivating meaning may thus represent a culturally adaptable, evidence-based avenue for youth mental-health promotion in China.