What makes life feel meaningful? Is it having a clear sense of purpose, achieving personal goals, living according to one’s principles, or perhaps feeling that life itself is inherently valuable? For decades, philosophers and psychologists alike have wrestled with these questions, and in recent years, the quest to understand and measure “meaning in life” has become an important field of research.

In their seminal 2009 study “Measuring Meaning in Life,” psychologists John Morgan and Trevor Farsides sought to develop a more comprehensive and reliable tool for assessing this elusive but vital aspect of human experience. Their work, published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, offers a deep dive into how meaning in life has traditionally been measured—and how it can be improved.

Traditionally, meaning in life has been approached through two lenses. The first is hedonic well-being, which centers on pleasure and the avoidance of pain. The second is eudaimonic well-being, which focuses on meaning, self-realization, and the pursuit of goals larger than oneself. Recent research suggests that meaning and engagement are even stronger predictors of life satisfaction than pleasure alone.

The foundations of this inquiry go back to ancient thinkers like Aristotle, who described eudaimonia as the highest human good. In the modern era, psychologist Viktor Frankl powerfully demonstrated the importance of meaning in life through his experiences as a concentration camp survivor. Frankl argued that finding meaning can be a source of resilience and well-being, even in the most harrowing of circumstances. Without it, people may suffer from what he called “noogenic neurosis”—a state of apathy, boredom, and aimlessness.

Yet despite its central role in human psychology, measuring meaning in life has proven difficult. Existing tools—like the Purpose in Life Test (PIL), the Life Regard Index (LRI), and the Sense of Coherence-Meaning Scale (SOC-M)—have been widely used but also criticized for being too narrow, redundant, or psychometrically inadequate.

Morgan and Farsides aimed to tackle these shortcomings through a series of three studies. Their goal: to create a measure that is comprehensive, economical, and psychometrically sound.

In Study 1, the researchers used factor analysis to examine how items from existing meaning scales clustered together. They identified five core dimensions of meaning in life:

1. Purposeful Life – having clear goals and a sense of direction.
2. Principled Life – living according to one’s beliefs and values.
3. Valued Life – perceiving life itself as significant and worthwhile.
4. Exciting Life – feeling engaged and enthusiastic about life.
5. Accomplished Life – feeling that one’s goals are being fulfilled.

This five-factor structure resonated with both historical philosophical perspectives and contemporary psychological theories.

In Study 2, Morgan and Farsides refined their tool further, developing a new self-report questionnaire—the Meaningful Life Measure (MLM)—based on the five identified dimensions. Through confirmatory factor analysis, they validated the MLM as a reliable and coherent instrument. Each subscale demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and collectively they measured a single underlying construct of meaning in life.

Finally, Study 3 tested the MLM against the existing PIL, LRI, and PWB-P scales to assess its convergent validity. The MLM performed well, showing high correlations with the older scales while also capturing dimensions that the traditional measures often neglected—such as the intrinsic value of life and a principled worldview.

The research highlighted a key insight: existing meaning measures often overemphasized certain aspects, like goal-directedness, while neglecting others, such as the inherent value of life or personal philosophy. By contrast, the MLM offered a more balanced and nuanced portrait of how people experience meaning.

Of course, the research wasn’t without its limitations. The participants in later studies were mostly young female undergraduates, meaning further validation with more diverse and older samples is needed. Additionally, the tool hasn’t yet been widely tested with individuals experiencing severe meaninglessness or existential distress.

Still, the development of the MLM marks a significant step forward. It offers researchers and clinicians a more refined tool for understanding how meaning contributes to well-being—and how it can be cultivated. This is no small matter. As Frankl and many others have argued, the search for meaning is not just a philosophical quest; it is a psychological imperative.

In a world where many people struggle with feelings of disconnection, aimlessness, or despair, having a reliable way to assess and foster meaning in life is more important than ever. Whether through personal reflection, therapy, or community engagement, helping individuals build a purposeful, principled, exciting, accomplished, and valued life could be one of the most impactful paths toward enhancing human well-being.

Credits: This post is based on the original research by John Morgan and Trevor Farsides, as published in Journal of Happiness Studies (2009), DOI 10.1007/s10902-007-9075-0.