Sources of meaning in life for young and old Israeli Jews and Arabs

This paper presents preliminary findings generated by the Sources of Life Meaning (SLM), a special instrument compiled to measure the sources of meaning in life for two different ethnic and age groups in Israel. Respondents were 362 younger and older Arab and Jewish women and men. The results reveal the impact of ethnicity and age on most of the 10 sources of meaning, despite similarities in breadth of meaning manifested in the overall amount of meaning in life in all groups. The differences tend to vary according to age group, as more differences are apparent among the older respondents than among the younger ones. Gender impacted on only three sources of meaning, suggesting that culture and age may overshadow gender differences. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.