title: Individual meaning in life assessed with the Schedule for Meaning in Life Evaluation: toward a circumplex meaning model.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The experience of "meaning in life" (MiL) is a major aspect of life satisfaction and psychological well-being. To assess this highly individual construct, idiographic measures with open-response formats have been developed. However, it can be challenging to categorize these individual experiences for interindividual comparisons. Our study aimed to derive MiL categories from individual listings and develop an integrative MiL model.
  
  
  METHODS
  University students were asked to rate 58 MiL providing aspects recently found in a nationwide study using the Schedule for Meaning in Life Evaluation (SMiLE), an MiL instrument allowing for open responses. Pearson's correlations and factor analyses were used to test the unidimensionality of subsequently derived higher-order MiL categories. Multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis, and factor analysis were performed to further analyze a latent MiL structure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 340 students participated in the study. Some 11 unidimensional categories consisting of 34 meaning-providing aspects were summarized into a circumplex model with four MiL domains: leisure/health, work/finances, culture/spirituality, and relationships (family, partnership, social relations).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This model seems to incorporate a major portion of individual respondent-generated MiL listings. It may be useful for future idiographic MiL studies to help organize individual experiences of MiL and allow for higher-level interindividual comparisons. Further studies including different samples are necessary to confirm this model or derive other MiL domains, for example, in palliative care patients or patients who are confronted with a loss of meaning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative Medicine,Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich,Munich,Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fegg
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative Medicine,Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich,Munich,Germany.
authors.forename: Dorothea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kudla
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative Medicine,Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich,Munich,Germany.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brandstätter
authors.affiliation: Statistical Consulting Unit, Department of Statistics,Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich,Munich,Germany.
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Deffner
authors.affiliation: Statistical Consulting Unit, Department of Statistics,Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich,Munich,Germany.
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Küchenhoff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Cluster analysis; Meaning in life; Multidimensional scaling; SMiLE; Structure of meaning in life