{"title":"What Does Meaning Mean? The Conceptualisation, Measurement, Correlates and Latent Profiles of Belief About Meaning in Life","authors":"Zhaoming Chen, Jiaying Liu, Chang Jiang, Shi Yu","doi":"10.1002/ejsp.70078","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>\n \n <p>Beliefs regarding meaning in life have not previously received much attention from researchers. In this article, we synthesised past theories and findings on Belief about Meaning in Life (BML) and developed the Belief about Meaning in Life Scale (BMLS) to measure these beliefs. Study 1 was a qualitative investigation. We conducted street interviews (<i>N</i> = 386) to gather information on the characteristics of meaning beliefs within Chinese culture, facilitating the identification and validation of the proposed framework of BML. In Study 2 (<i>N</i> = 436), we developed BMLS and administered it to Chinese participants. Factor analyses supported the dimensions we proposed. In Study 3, we further evaluated the validity of the BMLS in samples from China (<i>N</i> = 260) and the United States (<i>N</i> = 287). Moreover, latent profile analysis revealed four types of belief clusters. This research helps promote understanding of the individual differences in BML across groups.</p>\n </div>","PeriodicalId":48377,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Psychology","volume":"56 5","pages":"841-860"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2026-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Journal of Social Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejsp.70078","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/4/21 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Beliefs regarding meaning in life have not previously received much attention from researchers. In this article, we synthesised past theories and findings on Belief about Meaning in Life (BML) and developed the Belief about Meaning in Life Scale (BMLS) to measure these beliefs. Study 1 was a qualitative investigation. We conducted street interviews (N = 386) to gather information on the characteristics of meaning beliefs within Chinese culture, facilitating the identification and validation of the proposed framework of BML. In Study 2 (N = 436), we developed BMLS and administered it to Chinese participants. Factor analyses supported the dimensions we proposed. In Study 3, we further evaluated the validity of the BMLS in samples from China (N = 260) and the United States (N = 287). Moreover, latent profile analysis revealed four types of belief clusters. This research helps promote understanding of the individual differences in BML across groups.
期刊介绍：
Topics covered include, among others, intergroup relations, group processes, social cognition, attitudes, social influence and persuasion, self and identity, verbal and nonverbal communication, language and thought, affect and emotion, embodied and situated cognition and individual differences of social-psychological relevance. Together with original research articles, the European Journal of Social Psychology"s innovative and inclusive style is reflected in the variety of articles published: Research Article: Original articles that provide a significant contribution to the understanding of social phenomena, up to a maximum of 12,000 words in length.
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