Validation francophone de l’échelle Ikigai-9

Introduction

Ikigai, a concept originating in Japan, is related to life purpose and has been found to be involved in many studies related to physical and mental health. It is only very recently that it has started to be used in Western studies, through the Ikigai-9 questionnaire, developed in Japan.

Objectives

The objective of our study is the French validation of the Ikigai-9.

Method and results

An exploratory factor analysis on 170 participants resulted in a three-factor structure of the Ikigai-9: “attitudes toward the future”, “acknowledgement of one's own existence” and “emotions toward life”. A confirmatory factor analysis on an independent sample of 1205 participants allows us to switch an item to the appropriate dimension. The internal reliability indices of the three dimensions confirm the French validation of the Ikigai-9.

Conclusion

The French version of the Ikigai-9 allows for larger-scale cross-cultural studies and a better understanding of the concept of Ikigai in Western geographical areas.