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.