Preliminary Development Of Indigenous Scales Of Meaning In Life

Based on Fengyoulan(冯友兰)'s life philosophy theory, the present study attempt to develop indigenous scales of meaning in life, as well as to test their reliability and validity. Two series of studies were conducted.In study1, an indigenous Search of meaning scale(觉解量表)were developed. On the basis of former scales of meaning in life, this paper constructed the theoretical dimension of experts of philosophy by in-depth interviews, open questionnaires, and previous literatures, then developed the indigenous Search scale of meaning in life. The reliability and validity of the was conformed.We administered a college students sample(N=414) with the indigenous Search scale of meaning in life as the main measurement scale, and the MLQ Search(MLQ-S) by Steger (2006) for a criterion. The results indicated:(1) the internal consistency of the whole scale is0.81,and above0.70for the2subscales; the test-retest reliability of the whole scale was0.80(P<0.01).(2) A confirmatory factor analysis was preformed to confirm the2-factor structure of the scale, with the model fit are:χ2/df=2.30, NFI=0.94, CFI=0.97, IFI=0.97, RMR=0.03, RMSEA=0.06;(3) The indigenous Search scale of meaning in life was shown to have a significant relationship with the MLQ-S.In study2, an indigenous Presence scale of meaning(人生境界量表)were developed. On the basis of former scales of meaning in life, this paper constructed the theoretical dimension of experts of philosophy by in-depth interviews, open questionnaires, and previous literatures, then developed the indigenous Presence scale of meaning in life. The reliability and validity of the was conformed. We administered a college students sample(N=414) with the indigenous Presence scale of meaning in life as the main measurement scale, and the MLQ Presence (MLQ-P) by Steger (2006) for a criterion. The results indicated:(1) the internal consistency of the whole scale is0.85,and above0.80for the4subscales; the test-retest reliability of the whole questionnaire was0.83(P<0.01).(2) A confirmatory factor analysis was preformed to confirm the4-factor structure of the scale, with the model fit are:χ2/df=3.86, NFI=0.82, CFI=0.86, IFI=0.80, RMSEA=0.07;(3) The indigenous Presence scale of meaning in life was shown to have a significant relationship with the MLQ-P. These results indicated that the indigenous Presence scale of meaning in life was acceptable, and it suited for the Chinese college students.All together, the indigenous scales of meaning in life were reliable and valid, suiting for measuring meaning in life among Chinese college students.