THE TRIPARTITE MEANING IN LIFE SCALE: ASSESSING MEANING IN LIFE IN THREE DIMENSIONS

Abstract

The field of meaning in life (MIL) suffers from definitional ambiguity. This ambiguity extends to the measurement of MIL, hampering cohesive research on the construct. Recent scholarly consensus points to a tripartite conceptualization of MIL. This paper describes the development of the Tripartite Meaning in Life Scale (TMLS), a 23-item measure of the three subconstructs of MIL: coherence, purpose, and significance. Results from a 30-undergraduate-student sample demonstrate that the final scale has favorable psychometric properties. The Index of Item-Objective Congruence (IOC) scores were above .5 for all items, indicating good content validity. The Corrected Item-Total Correlation (CITC) ranged from .212-.508, .427-.729, and .452-.718 for coherence, purpose, and significance, respectively. The overall Cronbach Alpha’s coefficient was .892, indicating good internal consistency. The TMLS offers a way to measure MIL in a multidimensional approach consistent with current conceptualization, encouraging a cohesive body of research to be built upon in the same, meaningful direction.