The Challenge of Meaningful Comparison: Assessing the Relation Between Social Comparison Orientation and Meaning in Life

Abstract

Social comparison processes play a central role in social cognition, but their relation to meaning in life remains unclear. We conducted an integrative analysis of three online studies with American, Indian, Peruvian, and French participants. After harmonizing the study-specific datasets, we examined whether social comparison orientation was associated with search for meaning and presence of meaning. Higher social comparison orientation was consistently associated with greater search for meaning, including after adjustment for age, gender, country, and presence of meaning. This association was positive in each of the four national samples. In contrast, social comparison orientation was not consistently associated with presence of meaning. Exploratory analyses indicated heterogeneity in the magnitude of these associations across national samples, but this heterogeneity could not be attributed directly to individualism-collectivism because cultural orientation was not measured and measurement equivalence was not fully supported. Overall, these findings identify social comparison orientation as a consistent correlate of the active search for meaning in life.