Emerging adults from 18 to 29 years old are in the development phase that precedes adult life marked by autonomy and independence. In addition to the unique challenges, the COVID 19 pandemic has exposed them to the greatest humanitarian tragedy since the second World War. The study aims at evaluating spirituality, religiosity, materialism and anxiety before death as predictors for presence and search for meaning in this sociocultural context with intense psychic threats. The survey obtained 434 Brazilian and 615 Portuguese respondents. The objective was to verify how much religiosity, spirituality, materialism and anxiety before death can explain the presence and the search for meaning in life. After examining the data for each country, the results were compared. The study used instruments as Meaning of Life Scale (Steger et al., 2006); Non-Religiousness and Non-Spirituality Scale (Cragun, 2015); Materialism Scale (Richins, 2004) and the Death Anxiety Questionnaire (Conte et al., 1982). The results showed the following results for both Brazilian and Portuguese respondents: (1) religiosity predicted the presence of meaning in life. Less religiosity explained the search for meaning; (2) spirituality did not explain the presence of meaning, but it did explain the search for meaning in life; (3) materialism did not explain neither the presence nor the search for the meaning of life; (4) finally, lower death anxiety predicted the presence of meaning. The qualitative analysis of the open question: What comes Sena, Alexandre Rodrigues; Pessôa Luciana Fontes (Advisor); Lins, Samuel Lincoln Bezerra (Co-advisor). Religiosity, spirituality, materialism and death anxiety as predictors of the meaning of life of emerging adults. Rio de Janeiro, 2023. 240p. Tese de Doutorado – Departamento de Psicologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro. to your mind when you think about the meaning of life? was performed using the IRAMUTEQ software. The study of textual data revealed that agnostics and those without religion have less presence of meaning and, consequently, are in a more intense search for life meaning. The analysis of correlations and the t test corroborated the results found in the regressions and in the qualitative analysis. The investigation contributes to understanding the life meaning of emerging adults. The presence of meaning in life demonstrated the possibility of greater psychological health and well-being while facing the COVID 19 pandemic.