Academic Satisfaction and Meaning in Life: The Mediating Roles of Personal Growth Initiative and Career Adaptability

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The text explores the meaning of life and its significance in shaping young Chinese undergraduates. It emphasizes the subject's beliefs and values in guiding their actions and attributing meaning to life. The language used is clear, objective, and free from biased or emotional language. Technical terms are explained when first used, and the structure of the text follows a logical progression. The text adheres to conventional academic formatting and citation style, and is free from grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and punctuation errors. This is not a new topic, and it has been addressed throughout human history, regardless of the use of statistics. Human nature is constant, and any changes over time are merely variations on a fundamental theme.

The research is well-structured and methodologically sound, with a competent research design, the use of relevant and authoritative instruments, and an effective treatment of the results.

The article is well-referenced with an adequate bibliography and conclusions that correspond to the presented theoretical basis.

The author shows a strong commitment to the quantitative approach but acknowledges its limitations. Qualitative intervention may be necessary to address the fundamental theme of the article.

No specific developments related to the topic discussed, and its variations throughout the article, are expected in the Chinese society where the study is conducted. The political aspect of ethics is consistently present to the critical reader, like a palimpsest.

Author Response

Response to reviewer 1:

 

The text explores the meaning of life and its significance in shaping young Chinese undergraduates. It emphasizes the subject's beliefs and values in guiding their actions and attributing meaning to life. The language used is clear, objective, and free from biased or emotional language. Technical terms are explained when first used, and the structure of the text follows a logical progression. The text adheres to conventional academic formatting and citation style, and is free from grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and punctuation errors. This is not a new topic, and it has been addressed throughout human history, regardless of the use of statistics. Human nature is constant, and any changes over time are merely variations on a fundamental theme

Response: Thanks for the positive commend.

 

The research is well-structured and methodologically sound, with a competent research design, the use of relevant and authoritative instruments, and an effective treatment of the results.

Response: Thanks for the positive commend.

The article is well-referenced with an adequate bibliography and conclusions that correspond to the presented theoretical basis.

Response: Thanks for the positive commend.

 

The author shows a strong commitment to the quantitative approach but acknowledges its limitations. Qualitative intervention may be necessary to address the fundamental theme of the article.

Response: Thanks for the commend. We will try to see if we can conduct and publish another qualitative study in the future.

No specific developments related to the topic discussed, and its variations throughout the article, are expected in the Chinese society where the study is conducted. The political aspect of ethics is consistently present to the critical reader, like a palimpsest.

Response: Thanks for the commend. From the viewpoint of collectivism in Asian societies, we did present the study results consistently and follow the ethical rules.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors The study examined the relationship between academic satisfaction and the meaning of life. The fact that very few studies investigate the effect of relevant antecedent variables on the meaning of life makes the subject original. The research contributed to the field academically by revealing that academic satisfaction supports meaning in life directly and indirectly through the mediating effect of personal development initiative and career adaptability. The method and content used are sufficient.The results are consistent with the evidence and arguments presented and address the main problem. References are given appropriately and adequately. Tables  are explained in detail. 

Author Response

Response to reviewer 2:

 

The study examined the relationship between academic satisfaction and the meaning of life. The fact that very few studies investigate the effect of relevant antecedent variables on the meaning of life makes the subject original. The research contributed to the field academically by revealing that academic satisfaction supports meaning in life directly and indirectly through the mediating effect of personal development initiative and career adaptability. The method and content used are sufficient. The results are consistent with the evidence and arguments presented and address the main problem. References are given appropriately and adequately. Tables are explained in detail. 

Response: Thanks for the positive commend.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article has undoubted scientific interest, as it contains substantiated evidence of the applicability of the mentioned toolkit for the study of student motivation in China. But there is some insufficiency in presenting the results of the study.

The identification of the meaning of life and the search for the meaning of life as dependent factors on academic satisfaction (p. 3) raises some doubts. However, the former is the result of a combination of many objective factors, while the latter is a subjacent process. Therefore, one common factor cannot be regarded as decisive for both phenomena. 

The description of the results does not provide data to assess the adequacy of the conclusions presented in the discussion. As a result, there is an impression that the conclusions are based mainly on secondary analysis of other publications rather than on the presented study. 

Thus, the presentation of additional data in the section Results will allow for a better substantiation of the author's conclusions. But if the purpose of the article was to prove the applicability of the toolkit, then this kind of revision is not necessary.

Author Response

Response to the 3rd reviewer:

The article has undoubted scientific interest, as it contains substantiated evidence of the applicability of the mentioned toolkit for the study of student motivation in China. But there is some insufficiency in presenting the results of the study. The identification of the meaning of life and the search for the meaning of life as dependent factors on academic satisfaction (p. 3) raises some doubts. However, the former is the result of a combination of many objective factors, while the latter is a subjacent process. Therefore, one common factor cannot be regarded as decisive for both phenomena. 

Response: Thanks for the commend. In the literature review, we found that some studies, as referred in page 3, differentiated the presence/identification of the meaning of life and the search for the meaning of life. In our study, we define the meaning of life according to the participants’ score on Meaning in life Questionnaire (MIL, Steger et al., 2006). This scale includes two dimensions: presence of meaning in life and searching for meaning in life. Higher scores reflected a higher presence of meaning in life and searching for meaning in life.

The description of the results does not provide data to assess the adequacy of the conclusions presented in the discussion. As a result, there is an impression that the conclusions are based mainly on secondary analysis of other publications rather than on the presented study. Thus, the presentation of additional data in the section Results will allow for a better substantiation of the author's conclusions. But if the purpose of the article was to prove the applicability of the toolkit, then this kind of revision is not necessary.

Response: In the results part, we reported the results of data analysis. In discussion part, we focused on the dialogue between the current research findings and previous studies. Limitations were also provided for practical implication and future study.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf