ERIC Number: ED280804
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1987
Pages: 93
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: ISBN-951-45-4156-1
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Meaning of Life among Secondary School Pupils. A Theoretical Framework and Some Initial Results. Research Bulletin 65.
Niemi, Hannele
This monograph reports on an empirical survey of 394 secondary school students investigating their desire to seek the meaning of their own lives. The theoretical framework upon which the study was based is that of Viktor E. Frankl's hypotheses that a human being wants to seek the meaning in his own life. The questionnaire consisted of tests measuring pupils' concepts of their own life's purposes, significance, and meaningfulness. Questions dealt with values and attitudes toward existential questions. Pupils could also evaluate significance of school subjects in the the search for their own life's meaning. Initial results gave clear indication that students reflect quite a lot on the meaning of life, and most think that topics and questions dealing with existential questions should be addressed at school. Responses to open-ended questions on what they expected from school revealed that students asked for warmer and closer human relationships, more communication, more taking into account of individuality, more opportunity for choices, more support and encouragement, and more knowledge that has meaning for their personal life. The questionnaire is appended. (JD)
Publication Type: Collected Works - Serials; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Helsinki Univ., (Finland). Dept. of Teacher Education.
Identifiers - Location: Finland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A