The Meaning and Purpose Scales (MAPS): development and multi-study validation of short measures of meaningfulness, crisis of meaning, and sources of purpose

BMC Psychology

Research

Tatjana Schnell¹  Lars Johan Danbolt² 

[1] MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Oslo, Norway;Institute of Psychology, Existential Psychology Lab, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria;MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Oslo, Norway;Research Centre for Existential Health, Innlandet Hospital Trust, Brumunddal, Norway;

关键词: Meaning in life;    Crisis of meaning;    Sources of meaning;    Purpose;    Sustainability;    Religion;    Questionnaire;    Financial hardship;    German;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40359-023-01319-8

 received in 2022-12-06, accepted in 2023-09-11,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMeaning in life is multidimensional. It encompasses different qualities of meaning, such as meaningfulness, crisis of meaning, or existential indifference, as well as the sources from which people draw meaning, or purpose. For both research and practice, it is of high value to know not only the extent of meaningfulness, or its absence, but also its sources. How do these relate to meaningfulness and mental health? Are they accessible to people of different sociodemographic and economic backgrounds alike? For therapeutic and counseling practice, knowledge of experiences and sources of meaning is needed to support a clearer self-understanding in patients or clients and to encourage them to make authentic life choices. The Meaning and Purpose Scales (MAPS) presented here enable researchers and practitioners to gain insights into these dimensions of meaning in life, and, with only 23 items, to do so in a short time.MethodsUsing five independent and two follow-up samples with a total N of 7,500, this paper examined the MAPS’ internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent, divergent, criterion, factorial, and predictive validity.ResultsPrincipal axis factoring identified two meaning scales, Meaningfulness and Crisis of Meaning, and five purpose scales, Sustainability, Faith, Security, Community, and Personal Growth. The scales proved consistent, stable over four weeks and two months, and valid in multiple respects. In a representative German population sample, Personal Growth, Sustainability, and Community exhibited large, Faith and Security medium positive relationships with Meaningfulness, whereas Crisis of Meaning showed small to moderate negative correlations. Meaningfulness was positively, and Crisis of Meaning negatively predicted by age, partnership, parenthood, and religious affiliation. Financial hardship correlated positively with Crisis of Meaning and negatively with Meaningfulness, Community, and Personal Growth. Meaningfulness and Crisis of Meaning explained 21%, the sources of purpose 6% of additional variance in general mental distress (PHQ-4), beyond sociodemographics. Except for Faith (unrelated), all sources exhibited moderate negative correlations with the PHQ-4.ConclusionAs this series of studies demonstrates, the MAPS provide a highly economic and valid assessment of two qualities of meaning, Meaningfulness and Crisis of Meaning, and five sources of purpose: Sustainability, Faith, Security, Community, and Personal Growth.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

【 图 表 】

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Fig. 3