Existential-phenomenological analysis of the meaning of life in adolescents of the Ica region, Peru: a qualitative approach from logotherapy

Luna J.C.S.; Canales S.V.C.; Davila K.D.M.S. · Limite (Chile) (2026) · DOI: 10.64966/rl.1611

Resumen

Meaning of life and mental health are related, and their study is fundamental for exploring the purposes that lead to the acquisition of life transcendence. Doubts about one's life purpose or its absence can promote frustration and an existential crisis leading to various psychopathologies. The aim of the study was to explore the meaning of life in adolescents in the last year of secondary education from a logotherapeutic perspective. The method followed a qualitative paradigm and a phenomenological design. The data collection technique consisted of a semi-structured interview entitled Finding Meaning. The sample consisted of 31 students, aged between 16 and 18 years, from the fifth year of secondary school in the Ica region, Peru. Three representative categories of meaning in life emerged: clear life purpose, with accounts of self-transcendence, prosocial orientation, and coherence-security; diffuse meaning of life, developed through experiences involving the search for vital meaning, self-orientation, and deficits in coherence-security; and meaninglessness in life, characterized by experiences of apathy and discouragement toward life. It is concluded that a clear sense of life is developed through creative and experiential values based on experiences of self-transcendence. Other experiences are associated with a diffuse sense of life promoted by existential frustration and linked to sensitive values. Finally, meaninglessness in life is the consequence of an existential crisis and potentially affects affective life. These findings underscore the need for logotherapy-based interventions in the regional educational system to strengthen adolescents' sense of meaning in life.

Instituciones: Universidad de San Martín de Porres; Universidad Autónoma de Ica