Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe)
DESCRIPTION: The Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe) measures 26 sources of meaning and, independently of these, separate scales to assess meaningfulness – a fundamental sense of purpose, orientation, coherence, and belonging, and crisis of meaning – the evaluation of life as frustratingly empty and lacking meaning.
NUMBER OF ITEMS: 151 items, measuring 26 sources of meaning, meaningfulness and crisis of meaning.
RELIABILITY:
- Internal consistencies range from .85–.91 for the dimensions (M = .88), and .59–.95 for the scales (M = .76; N = 322). See table 1.
- Sources of meaning, meaningfulness and crisis of meaning show a high short-term stability; 2-month test-retest stability coefficients average .81 for the scales, .90 for the dimensions (German data).
- Stability of sources of meaning and meaningfulness is still high after an interval of 6 months (.72 for the scales, .78 for the dimensions); for crisis of meaning, it is .48 (German data).
Table 1. SoMe scales and dimensions, with internal consistencies (N = 322).
Scale/Dimension |
|
Internal consistency (α) |
||
Meaningfulness |
|
.80 |
||
Crisis of Meaning |
|
.92 |
||
Selftranscendence |
|
.87 |
||
Vertical Selftranscendence |
.87 |
|||
Explicit Religiosity |
.95 |
|||
Spirituality |
.76 |
|||
Horizontal Selftranscendence |
.87 |
|||
Social Commitment |
.59 |
|||
Unison with Nature |
.85 |
|||
Self-Knowledge |
.83 |
|||
Health |
.67 |
|||
Generativity |
.70 |
|||
Selfactualization |
.91 |
|||
Challenge |
.59 |
|||
Individualism |
.58 |
|||
Power |
.65 |
|||
Development |
.79 |
|||
Achievement |
.66 |
|||
Freedom |
.89 |
|||
Knowledge |
.69 |
|||
Creativity |
.86 |
|||
Order |
.85 |
|||
Tradition |
.72 |
|||
Practicality |
.74 |
|||
Morality |
.64 |
|||
Reason |
.62 |
|||
Well-Being and Relatedness |
.90 |
|||
Community |
.67 |
|||
Fun |
.71 |
|||
Love |
.78 |
|||
Comfort |
.64 |
|||
Care |
.75 |
|||
Attentiveness |
.72 |
|||
Harmony |
.87 |
|||
Lavigne, K. M., Hofman, S., Ring, A. J., Ryder, A. G., & Woodward, T. S. (2013). The personality of meaning in life: Associations between dimensions of life meaning and the Big Five. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 8(1), 34-43.