Adolescents’ interpersonal relationships, self-consistency, and congruence: Life meaning as a mediator

Self-consistency and congruence are indices used to measure individual mental health. We explored the correlations between interpersonal relationships, life meaning, self-consistency, and congruence in adolescents. Participants (N = 886) completed the Comprehensive Diagnosis Scale of Interpersonal Relationships, the Meaning in Life Questionnaire–Chinese Version, and the Self-Consistency and Congruence Scale. Results show there were strong positive correlations between participants’ interpersonal relationships, life meaning, self-consistency, and congruence. Further, life meaning mediated the connections between interpersonal relationships, self-consistency, and congruence. In addition to this indirect effect, interpersonal relationships directly affected participants’ self-consistency and congruence. School- or individual-level interventions to help adolescents search for life meaning and improve interpersonal relationships could help improve their self-consistency and congruence.