Validation and utility of the Meaning in Life Measure for Turkish university students

Abstract

The Meaning in Life Measure (MILM) is a new measure for assessing meaning in life by addressing problems associated with existing measures of meaning in life (absence of items related to reflectivity, felt sense, and mattering). For the first time, this study aimed to test the psychometric properties of the MILM for university students in Turkey. We used a sample of 376 university students (Mage=24.03±4.65 years) who participated in an online survey including the MILM, the Adult Dispositional Hope Scale, and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale – 21. To study the factor structure of the MILM, we firstly employed a dual approach including exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, which provided support for the goodness of a two-factor model (experience and reflectivity). We secondly tested the convergent and predictive validity of the measure by respectively applying correlation and regression analyses. Our findings supported the convergent validity of the MILM, showing correlations with hope, anxiety, and depression. The predictive validity was also confirmed; the experience subscale of MILM uniquely predicted hope, anxiety, and depression after controlling for covariates (age and gender). Thirdly, our findings showed that the MILM and its subscales had high internal consistency reliability. The Turkish version of the MILM is provided to be a reliable and valid instrument for assessing meaning in life for university students in Turkey.

Keywords

• Meaning in Life Measure, psychometric properties, factor analyses, Turkish validation, well-being, mental health