The Life Engagement Test: assessing purpose in life.
This article describes a 6-item scale, the Life Engagement Test, designed to measure purpose in life, defined in terms of the extent to which a person engages in activities that are personally valued. Psychometric data are presented including information about the scale's factor structure, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, discriminant predictive validity, and norms. The data suggest that the Life Engagement Test is psychometrically sound across different gender, age, and ethnic groups and is appropriate for wider use. Discussion centers on the use of the Life Engagement Test in behavioral medicine and health psychology research and recent associations that have begun to emerge between the scale and health-relevant outcomes.
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. scheier@cmu.edu
Michael F
MF
Scheier
Carsten
C
Wrosch
Andrew
A
Baum
Sheldon
S
Cohen
Lynn M
LM
Martire
Karen A
KA
Matthews
Richard
R
Schulz
Bozena
B
Zdaniuk
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires