Meaning in Life: Is It a Protective Factor for Adolescents’ Psychological Health? László Brassai & Bettina F. Piko & Michael F. Steger Published online: 20 October 2010 # International Society of Behavioral Medicine 2010 Abstract Background Searching for a coherent meaning in life has long been proposed to be a protective factor in adolescent development. Purpose The present study aimed to examine meaning in life as a protective factor in a largely unstudied population: Romanian adolescents. Additionally, we sought to provide a novel, multidimensional assessment of several health- related variables (substance abuse, health risk behaviors, psychological health). Potential gender differences were explored regarding the role of life meaning in adolescent health. Method Data were collected in 2006 from students enrolled in the secondary schools of the Middle Transylvanian Region, Romania (n =1,977). Self-administered question- naires were used as a method of data collection including items of life meaning and psychological health. Results Meaning in life played a protective role with regard to health risk behaviors except smoking and binge drinking. Among males, meaning in life was found to be correlated only to illicit drug and sedative use, whereas among females, meaning in life was associated with binge drinking, unsafe sex, and lack of exercise and diet control. Psychological health was strongly related to meaning in life. Conclusion In Romanian adolescents, meaning in life is a protective factor against health risk behaviors and poor psychological health. Keywords Meaning in life . Psychological health . Health risk behavior . Adolescence . Protection Introduction Adolescence is a critical life period due to hormonal– behavioral and psychosocial changes, particularly changes in youth’ s lifestyle and their health behaviors [1]. One consequence is that general health systems become very instable and adolescents tend to experience a greater level of psychosomatic symptoms, anxiety, or depression, and they tend to report lower level of subjective health status and life satisfaction [2–4]. In addition, a deterioration of psychological health is negatively related to health protect- ing behavior (e.g., physical activity or healthy diet) and positively to substance use, which may lead to serious negative health outcomes in later adult life [4–6]. This is unfortunate because achieving a stable equilibrium of protective factors could be a key factor in maintaining adolescents' health. Within the risk and protective factors framework, interest in youth’ s capacity to be resilient and maintain positive development has been increased over the past decade [7]. Various protective mechanisms are thought to buffer the influence of risks on adolescent outcomes [8, 9]. Among others, spirituality and searching for a coherent meaning in life have long been proposed to be a resilience factor in L. Brassai Psychopedagogical Consulting Center, Kovasna County, Saint George, Romania B. F. Piko (*) Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Szeged, 6722 Szentharomsag street 5, Szeged, Hungary e-mail: pikobettina@yahoo.com M. F. Steger Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Campus Delivery Fort Collins, Fort Collins, CO, USA Int.J. Behav. Med. (2011) 18:44–51 DOI 10.1007/s12529-010-9089-6