Variable Details
Available Studies
MAP, MARS, Clinical Core, LATC
Categories
Well-being
Purpose in life
Sense of purpose in life
Purpose in Life - 10 items
Purpose in life is assessed using a modified ten-item measure derived from Ryff's and Keyes's scales of Psychological Well-Being. Participants are asked to rate their level of agreement with each item on a 5-point scale. Ratings for items that were negatively worded are flipped so that higher scores on all individual items indicate greater purpose. Item scores are then averaged to yield a total score for each participant, with higher scores indicating greater purpose in life.
| Coding | Item |
|---|---|
| I feel good when I think of what I've done in the past and what I hope to do in the future. | |
| (f) | I live life one day at a time and don't really think about the future. |
| (f) | I tend to focus on the present, because the future nearly always brings me problems. |
| I have a sense of direction and purpose in life. | |
| (f) | My daily activities often seem trivial and unimportant to me. |
| (f) | I used to set goals for myself, but that now seems like a waste of time. |
| I enjoy making plans for the future and working them to a reality. | |
| I am an active person in carrying out the plans I set for myself. | |
| Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them. | |
| (f) | I sometimes feel as if I've done all there is to do in life. |
Response choices for each item:
| Response choice | Value | Flipped value (f) |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly disagree | 1 | 5 |
| Disagree | 2 | 4 |
| Neutral | 3 | 3 |
| Agree | 4 | 2 |
| Strongly agree | 5 | 1 |