Meaning in Life Questionnaire: Factor Structure and Gender Invariance in a Romanian Undergraduates Sample

Authors

  • Beatrice Adriana Balgiu University Politehnica of Bucharest

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18662/rrem/12.2/270

Keywords:

Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), validation, confirmatory factor analysis, gender invariance, undergraduates

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to analyze the psychometric properties of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) (one of the most widely used instruments for the assessment of the meaning in life) for a sample of 320 undergraduate students (149 males and 171 females; Mage = 19.29; S.D. = 1.42). The MLQ is built around two scales: the MLQ-P (5 items), which measures the Presence of Meaning, and the MLQ-S (5 items), which is focused on the Search for Meaning. The psychometric analysis carried out by means of the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed that the MLQ has a two-factor structure according to the original version and adequate fit coefficients (χ² / df = 2.67; CFI = 0.957; RMSEA = 0.073; SRMR = 0.0711). The internal consistency is acceptable: Cronbach’sα = 0.79, for the MLQ-P and α = 0.85 for the MLQ-S. As for the measurement of the gender invariance, achieved through multigroup-CFA, the results have shown that there is strong invariance. The relations of the MLQ with the instruments for well-being (MHC-SF), flourishing (FS), and the positive and the negative affect (SPANE) suggestthe existence of adequate convergent validity.

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Published

2020-06-30

How to Cite

Balgiu, B. A. (2020). Meaning in Life Questionnaire: Factor Structure and Gender Invariance in a Romanian Undergraduates Sample. Revista Romaneasca Pentru Educatie Multidimensionala, 12(2), 132-147. https://doi.org/10.18662/rrem/12.2/270

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2020): Revista Romaneasca pentru Educatie Multidimensionala

Section

Research Articles

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