Abstract:

Objective To investigate the influence of the sense of life meaning of medical students in private colleges on their attitudes towards death，and the mediating role of self-identity in them，in order to provide scientific basis for cultivating a positive outlook on life and death and improving self-identity among medical students in private universities. Methods In May 2024，a survey was conducted on 1 230 medical students from a private university in Changsha using the meaning of life scale，death attitude scale，and self-identity scale through simple random sampling，and the data were analyzed. Results The average score for the sense of meaning in life，attitude towards death，and self-identity among students from private universities surveyed was （4.90±0.96），（2.79±0.45） and（2.82±0.33）points，respectively. The comparison of sense of life meaning and self-identity scores among medical students with different family economies showed statistically significant differences（F=8.823，4.954，both P<0.01）.The comparison of death attitude scores among medical students of different genders showed that females scored significantly higher than males，and the difference was statistically significant（t=2.617，P<0.01）. The correlation analysis results showed that medical students' sense of meaning in life was positively correlated with their natural acceptance of death attitude（r=0.14，P<0.01），and their sense of self-identity was positively correlated with their sense of meaning in life and their natural acceptance of death attitude（r=0.384，0.182，both P<0.01）. The self-identity of medical students in private colleges played a partial mediating role between the sense of life meaning and attitudes towards death，with the mediating effect accounting for 41.758% of the total effect. Conclusion The sense of life meaning of medical students in private colleges can not only directly predict their attitudes towards death but also indirectly predict their attitudes towards death through self-identity. In private medical education，targeted education on the view of life and death should be provided for medical students to enhance their identification with themselves，their major，and their profession，broaden the educational path for the humanistic quality of medical students，and cultivate medical talents in the new era.

Key words: Private colleges, Medical students, Sense of life meaning, Attitudes towards death, Self-identity