Psychometric Evaluation of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire in Chinese Middle School Students

Abstract

Objective: To develop the Meaning in Life Questionnaire-Chinese version(MLQ-C) and to examine its psychometric properties in a sample of Chinese middle school students. Methods: Totally 1899 middle school students from three provinces of China completed MLQ-C, Satisfaction With Life Scale(SWLS), Revision of the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale(PANAS), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale(CES-D) and S-AI of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Part of the data randomly selected(n=925) was conducted Exploratory Factor Analysis(EFA) and the other part(n=974) was used in Confirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA). Results: Firstly, EFA extracted two factors[(Presence of meaning(MLQ-P) and Search for meaning(MLQ-S)] from 10-item of MLQ-C, and supported the original MLQ 2-factor model.MLQ-P and MLQ-S's factor contribution rate were 31.154% and 30.406% respectively. CFA on other samples also confirmed the original MLQ 2-factor structural model(χ2= 242.298, P0.001, NFI=0.938, RFI=0.918, IFI=0.946, TLI=0.929,CFI=0.946, PNFI=0.709, PCFI=0.715, RMSEA=0.079). Secondly, MLQ-P and MLQ-S scores were positively correlated with SWB(r=0.384, r=0.138, P0.001), while negatively correlated with S-AI(r=-0.396, r=-0.107, P0.001) and CES-D(r =-0.344, P 0.001; r =-0.021, P 0.05). Thirdly, internal consistency Cronbach's α coefficients of the total MLQ-C,MLQ-P and MLQ-S were 0.830, 0.842 and 0.828, and 7 weeks later the test-retest reliability(n=116) of the total MLQ-C,MLQ-P and MLQ-S were 0.639, 0.746 and 0.558. Conclusion: The MLQ-C has acceptable psychometric quality amongst Chinese middle school students.