Relationships between Sense of Community, Authenticity, and Meaning in Life in Four Social Communities in France

Mathilde Moisseron-Baudé (1, 2) , Jean-Luc Bernaud (3) , Laurent Sovet (4)

1 CRTD - Centre de recherche sur le travail et le développement
2 PsychoPrat - École de Psychologues Praticiens de Paris
3 INETOP-CNAM - Institut national d'étude du travail et d'orientation professionnelle
4 LaPEA - UMR_T 7708 - Laboratoire de Psychologie et d’Ergonomie Appliquées

This research explored the effects of sense of community and authenticity on meaning in life in social communities in France. The sample included one hundred participants from four social communities (i.e., political, religious, virtual learning, and mutual aid). The Meaning in Life Questionnaire, the Sense of Community Scale, and the Authenticity Scale were administered to the respondents. The correlational analyses indicated that sense of community and authenticity were more related to the presence of meaning (r = 0.29 and r = 0.54, respectively) than to the search for meaning (r = −0.39 and r = 0.03, respectively). In addition, no interaction effects were found between sense of community and the three dimensions of authenticity, suggesting that the level of authenticity did not influence the relationships between sense of community and presence of or search for meaning. The practical and research implications of the study for social communities in the field of existential psychology were discussed.

Mots clés: meaning in life; sense of community; authenticity; existential meaning; community

Domaines: Psychologie

Mathilde Moisseron-Baudé, Jean-Luc Bernaud, Laurent Sovet. Relationships between Sense of Community, Authenticity, and Meaning in Life in Four Social Communities in France. Sustainability, 2022, 14 (2), pp.1018. ⟨10.3390/su14021018⟩. ⟨hal-03622623⟩