With the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of 2020, most colleges in China delayed in-person instruction. During this period, interpersonal isolation (social isolation) emerged, which created a natural "laboratory" for examining students’ attitudes and feelings toward social interaction. This study aimed to analyze the mediating effect of sense of security (SS) and the moderating effect of social perception on the associations between interpersonal competence (IC) and the presence of meaning.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1161 university students after the COVID-19 lockdown in China. A structural equation modeling approach was applied to examine the mediating effect of SS on the association between the presence of meaning and IC. A multigroup analysis was used to comprehend the moderating effect of social perception on the model.

SS indicated a complete mediating effect on the path from IC to the presence of meaning in the social preference group. Meanwhile, the moderating effect of social perception mainly occurred on the pathway of IC to SS between the social avoidance and social preference groups.

IC influences the presence of meaning through different paths for different groups. University students with social preference are more capable of obtaining SS from their IC and further experience more meaning in life.