Is meaning essential for happiness? According to a global study, that depends. In their paper “Financial Resources Impact the Relationship Between Meaning and Happiness,” lead author Rhia Catapano, an assistant professor at the Rotman School of Management, and her fellow researchers wanted to see if meaning and happiness are significantly related and whether that relationship changes as you climb the economic ladder. While many studies explore the relationship between money and happiness, few have examined the role meaning plays in that dynamic.

Whereas happiness is characterized by feelings of enjoyment, pleasure and general positivity, meaning is characterized by feelings of purpose, importance and value.

“As an example, many parents feel having kids is extremely meaningful because it gives them a sense of significance," says Catapano. "Changing diapers isn’t necessarily fun, but it has purpose. In some cases, happiness and meaning move together. You have a great time with your friends, it makes you happy and feels meaningful. But in many cases, things that are difficult may not be bring happiness, but they have significance and meaning.”

What happens when we factor income into the equation?

Worldwide data from three studies revealed that meaning is a greater predictor of happiness for people in low- and middle-income brackets than for people in higher income brackets. Gathered from 500,000 people in 123 countries, the data was evenly split between men and women, ages early 40s to mid-50s. Corrected for regions, the study looked at yearly income levels between $10,000 and $100,000 spread across low- ($10,000 to $33,000), mid- ($34,000 to $66,000) and high ($67,000 to 100,000) brackets.

While people often equate having more money with greater happiness, and therefore meaning, the study found that “meaning and happiness are more weakly associated for individuals with greater financial resources.” The researchers believe this is because people with greater means often have access to more sources of happiness, some of which might be meaningful but some of which might only be sources of pleasure but add little meaning to a person’s life.

By contrast, people with fewer financial resources must rely on the relatively limited sources of happiness available to them, the researchers found. Unable to afford extraordinary experiences, meaning is derived from “internal sources,” namely social relationships, family and religion. However, people at this income level who don’t have access to these sources of meaning are more vulnerable to serious hardship, the researchers also found.

“Past research shows that individuals with lower incomes are almost two times more likely to experience depression, and a reduction in household income is associated with increased risk for incident mood disorders compared with individuals in higher-income categories," says Catapano, adding that "lower-income individuals who invest their time in sources that carry meaning and happiness simultaneously, such as friendship, familial relationships [and] community bonds, have greater overall well-being than their lower-income counterparts who are not able to draw on these.

“What was so surprising to us is the extent to which this linear relationship is so robust across the world. It’s universal,” Catapano adds.

In comparison, higher-income earners were less likely to leverage these personal sources of meaning, even when they had them, suggesting there’s a rich source of happiness in wealthier individuals' lives that they're not tapping into. Effectively, even when they have meaning, in a lot of cases, they don’t focus on that meaning as an important part of their life that brings them joy.

Considering how the linear relationship between meaning and happiness improves people's mental health, well-being and overall lives, Catapano and her team believe interventions on a larger scale could also form the basis for public policy initiatives; ones that promote meaning (and therefore happiness) by encouraging people to see how their lives contribute to a larger whole.

“With global poverty rising for the first time in over 20 years as a result of the triple threat of COVID-19, military conflict and climate change, the results clearly show that meaning can be a source of happiness across society at any level of financial means.”

So, if money isn’t a true source of happiness, is it having a sense of meaning in your life? “If you make it a priority and incorporate it into your overall happiness, yes,” Catapano says. “We found that people can access sources of happiness that also have meaning, without having to spend money on them. So, people shouldn’t think of meaning as completely separate from happiness because they’re actually tied together.”