The Meaning of Life for the Secondary School Graduates in Sandomierz

Abstract

The analysis of the empirical evidence obtained as a result of research led by the author in Sandomierz has revealed that the secondary school seniors are characterized by a high level of overall satisfaction with life. The problem of the meaning of life constitutes a vital and important problem for them. Young people often think about it and in general express a positive attitude towards life. We can claim that fairly common satisfaction preserves the sense of existence whereas the sense is a condition for happiness understood as satisfaction. Among values possessing the rank of success the foremost place is taken by family happiness. A decisive majority of researched subjects tends to subordinate their satisfying and well paid job as well as high qualifications guaranteeing a good job to happy family life and personal happiness. In the hierarchy of five most important aims giving sense to life the determining value was given to love. This value is connected with a happy family in which there are children and having a job provides financial security. Every third respondent indicates their deep faith (the same number declared possessing deep faith) as the determinant of the sense of meaning. Among the very important matters we can find that the family, friends, acquaintances and work receive higher ranks than religion. In the context of the ultimate goal, family happiness is twice as often indicated as faith in God and the salvation of the soul. Preferred goals are more often characterized as individual rather than social values, more often everyday rather than religious values, more often specific than general ones. Young people appreciate a stable life thanks to their work and affirm personal relationships and interpersonal contacts. The results of sociological research do not give a comprehensive picture of the views of the graduate youth of Sandomierz on the meaning of life, but point to several important aspects that testify to its well-established sense.