Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effect of self-transcendence meaning of life on psychological well-being with college students. The theoretical background of self-transcendence meaning of life originates from the philosophies of Buddhism and Taoism. The conceptual framework of the study focused on self-transcendence meaning of life as a moderator in regulating the relation between college stress and psychological well-being of college students. College stress consists of academic hassle, personal hassle and negative life event. Psychological well-being is conceptualized as mental health status and self-esteem. Self-transcendence meaning of life is a uni-dimensional concept.
The main study was conducted after a preliminary study, in-depth interviews and a validation study. Findings of the preliminary study indicated that the major sources of college stress were academic hassle, personal hassle and negative life event, while the in-depth interviews suggested potential influence of self-transcendence meaning of life. The validation study developed and validated two scales: The College Stress Scale and the Self-transcendence Meaning of Life Scale. Psychometric properties of these scales and measures of psychological well-being and self-esteem measures were satisfactory. In the main study, these scales and measures were administered to 788 undergraduate students from three universities in Beijing. The data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate analyses.
Findings of the study partially confirmed the moderating effect of self-transcendence meaning of life on the relation between college stress and psychological well-being. Specifically, self-transcendence meaning of life moderated in the relation of college stress to depression, mental health problem, and self-esteem. A similar moderating effect was not found on the relation between college stress and anxiety and self-adequacy.
These findings carry important implications for mental health theory and especially self-esteem theory. It seems that self-esteem is not necessarily oriented toward the self among Chinese students. The confirmation of the moderating effects of self-transcendence meaning of life on psychological well-being may also have implications for assessment and intervention

Key words: psychological well-being, self-transcendence meaning of life, college stress, coping resource