Meaning in Life of Army Officers

Meaning in life is defined as the extent to which people comprehend and see significance in their lives as well as the degree to which they perceive themselves to have a purpose or overarching aim in life (Steger, 2009). According to Baumeister 1991 in our life we do face many complexities, adversity and unexpected and unpredictable situations yet many people find this experience as enriching and maintain that they have achieved their meaning in life. Frankl argued that humans are characterized by a “Will to meaning”, an innate drive to find significance in their lives and failure leads to psychological distress. Meaning in life is an indicator of well-being and facilitator of adaptive coping. The Indian armed forces is responsible for safeguarding our nation from the attacks on land and for this purpose the soldiers are constantly deployed on border and high altitude regions. They are constantly exposed to stressful environment, hence meaning in life is considered as an important psychological trait that can help them cope with this prolonged exposure to extremities so that they continue to be engaged in their work without distress. In this paper data was collected from 95 army officers and their meaning in life was gauged in terms of the dimension presence and search for meaning based on Steger's questionnaire and the influence of hierarchy, posting , marital status and birth order was statistically ascertained. Result will be discussed in the paper.