Purpose-in-life test: further correlates.

The Purpose-in-Life Test (PIL) was developed by Crumbaugh and Maholick (2) to measure sense of meaning and purpose in life. A low score represents Viktor Frankl's concept of existential vacuum (1), emptiness of perceived meaning in personal existence. Three validity studies have been reported so far. Crumbaugh (1) found the PIL to discriminate between "normal" and psychiatric groups, and between four "normal" groups ranging from highly successful to indigent subjects. He also found a negative correlation with the MMPI depression scale. Crumbaugh, Raphael & Shrader (3) found a group of trainees of Dominican Sisters to achieve higher PJL scores than motivated business and professional subjects. Furthermore, PIL scores correlated with the proficiency ratings of the trainees. But they did not differentiate between drop-outs and those who remained in the program. Finally, the anxiety scale of the 16 PF correlated negatively with PIL scores. Doerries (4) found students belonging to a number of campus organizations to score higher on the PIL than those who belonged to none or only one. The purpose of the present study was further to investigate the construct validity of the PIL by studying the relationship between PIL scores and various measures of personality of normal and schizophrenic subjects.