Meaning in Life Questionnaire

What is the Meaning in Life Questionnaire?

The Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) is a widely utilized tool in counseling psychology and other related fields to understand aspects of an individual's psychological well-being. It is a 10-item measure, providing valuable insight into how individuals perceive and pursue a meaningful life across their life span (Steger, 2010). 

The MLQ is split into two subscales; The Presence of Meaning subscale, measuring how full respondents feel their lives are of meaning (Steger, 2010). This subscale if positively related to well-being and negatively related to anxiety and depression. The other subscale is the Search for Meaning subscale, measuring how engaged and motivated respondents are in efforts to find meaning or deepen their understanding of meaning in their lives. For example, this subscale is positively related to the negative affect, and negatively related to future time perspective (Steger, 2010).

There have been numerous studies testing the psychometric properties of the MLQ against various sample groups, such as, adolescents psychological health, patients with life threatening illnesses and patients with serious mental illness (Rose, et al., 2016; Naghiyaee, et.al., 2020; Schulenberg, et al., 2011). The relevant research findings showed that scale analysis results had satisfactory internal consistency, along with the confirmatory factor analysis showing support for the two-factor model (Rose et al., 2016). The MLQ has demonstrated its stable factor structure, established through exploratory factor analysis, making it a reliable instrument in diverse populations (Steger, et al., 2006).

How to use our Meaning in Life Questionnaire template

Using the MLQ is a simple and straightforward process. Follow these steps to get started:

1. Step 1: Download the template

Access the Meaning in Life Questionnaire template by clicking "Use template", allowing you to edit the resource via the Carepatron app. For a PDF copy, choose "Download."

Step 2: Familiarize yourself with the template

The template is designed to guide you through the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. It includes space for essential patient information, such as name and date of birth. The template follows the standard MLQ questionnaire, composed of 10 items, each relating to one of the two subscales: Presence of Meaning in Life and the Search for Meaning in Life.

Step 3: Ask the patient to complete

Give the template to the patient to complete. Ensure that they fill out their personal details. Before patient completion, emphasize that there is no right or wrong answer; rather, it is about understanding their authentic answers. Explain that it is crucial to provide honest answers in order to attain an accurate result. Be sure to guide the individual through the template, helping them with questions if necessary whilst ensuring not to suggest any answers.

Step 4: Score their answers

Calculate the individual's score by summing the two subscale scores to reach the total score.

Scoring and interpreting

Scoring the MLQ is a straightforward and efficient process that can be used for educational, therapeutic, and research use. It consists of two subscales; Presence of Meaning in Life, and the Search for Meaning in Life. Each item is scored on a 1-7 Likert scale ("absolutely untrue" to "absolutely true"), with the total score calculated by summing the two subscales.

Ensure that all questions have been answered to the best of the individuals' ability to get the most accurate results.  The items representing each subscale is represented below:

• Presence of Meaning in Life subscale: 1, 4, 5, 6 and 9
• Search for Meaning in Life subscale: 2, 3, 7, 8 and 10

To calculate the subscale scores follow these instructions:

• Presence of Meaning in Life subscale: subtract the rating from item 9 from item 8, then add to the ratings 1, 4, 5 and 6.
• Search for Meaning in Life subscale: add together the ratings for items 2, 3, 7, 8, and 10.

Please note that the Presence of Meaning in Life subscale items are all reverse-coded.

Interpretation

Interpreting the MLQ is based on a number of studies that makes probabilistic guesses about the respondents life. These are not definitive and hence cannot determine a diagnosis, if you are experiencing poor mental health, well being, or questioning life's meaning it is recommended to consult a professional in this area.

A higher total score on the Presence of Meaning subscale indicates that the individual perceives their life as meaningful, with a strong sense of purpose and significance. A higher total score on the Search for Meaning subscale suggests that the individual is actively exploring or striving to understand the existential meaning or purpose in their life.

• Higher scores on both scales: The individual feels their life has meaning and is actively seeking to deepen or refine that meaning.
• High Presence, low Search: The person feels their life is meaningful and is not currently seeking additional meaning.
• Low Presence, high Search: The person lacks meaning but is motivated to search for it.
• Lower scores on both subscales: The person may lack a sense of meaning and is not actively seeking it.  

Next Steps after using the questionnaire

Here are some steps you can take after administering the questionnaire:

Review and analyze responses

The patient's total score will be reviewed and interpreted as suggested above. The 2 subscales can be separately reviewed to identify patterns in specific areas that may suggest a type of support that could be most influential for the individual given the outcome.

Discuss results with patient

In counseling psychology, or other related fields, professionals may open a sensitive and nonjudgmental conversation to discuss the results from the MLQ. The professional will try to get a well-rounded understanding of the patient, considering the broader social determinants of the person. This can guide professionals in targeted interventions and be used to support standard psychological health diagnosis, to overall support the individual in achieved life satisfaction.

References

Naghiyaee, M., Bahmani, B., & Asgari, A. (2020). The Psychometric Properties of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) in Patients with Life-Threatening Illnesses. TheScientificWorldJournal, 2020, 8361602.

Rose, L. M., Zask, A., & Burton, L. J. (2016). Psychometric properties of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) in a sample of Australian adolescents. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 22(1), 68–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2015.1124791 https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8361602

Schulenberg, S. E., Strack, K. M., & Buchanan, E. M. (2011). The Meaning In Life Questionnaire: psychometric properties with individuals with serious mental illness in an inpatient setting. Journal of clinical psychology, 67(12), 1210–1219. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20841

Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. (2006). The meaning in life questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53(1), 80–93. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.53.1.80

Steger, M. (2010). The Meaning in Life Questionnaire. http://www.michaelfsteger.com/?page_id=13