Meaning in Life and Lifelong Learning: The Case of Turkish Immigrants in the United Arab Emirates

Year 2018, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 29 - 57, 27.07.2018

Tanju Deveci

https://doi.org/10.29250/sead.372164

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Adults’ psychological well-being is greatly
influenced by the meaning they attain in life. A lack of an established meaning
in life may cause distress, and urge individuals to indulge in activities
assisting in their quest for meaning. Immigration, be it a reason for or a
result of the quest for meaning, may seriously affect people’s psychological
well-being. A plethora of research has investigated the issues under-privileged
immigrants face, with little attention given to professional immigrants’
well-being. These people’s lifelong learning propensities relative to acquisition
of meaning in life have not received much attention either. The complementarity
between the two can increase our understanding of the psychological and
educational needs of professional immigrants. To this end, this research
investigated 50 professional Turkish immigrants’ experiences in the UAE. It
involved 30 female and 20 male adults with a mean age of 38. Data were collected
using two instruments borrowed from the literature on the topic. Results showed
that the participants’ scores for presence of and search for meaning were above
the threshold level indicating a positive attribute. The participants in the
female, mid-adulthood, and greater length of stay categories received higher
scores for presence of meaning in life. A weak, positive correlation occurred
between presence of meaning in their lives and lifelong learning scores;
however, a weak, negative correlation was detected between search for meaning
in life and lifelong learning scores. Results are discussed, and
recommendations are made to enhance professional immigrants’ acquisition of meaning
in life through engagement in lifelong learning.

Keywords

Meaning in life, Search for meaning, Presence of meaning, Immigration, Lifelong learning

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