MEANING IN LIFE OF YOUNG AND ELDERLY ADULTS - AN EXAMINATION OF THE FACTORIAL VALIDITY AND INVARIANCE OF THE LIFE REGARD INDEX

The main question of the present investigation was whether the Life Re gard Index (LRI) is an adequate instrument to study possible differenc es between young and elderly adults with regard to experienced meaning in life. Participants in this study were a group of 206 young adults (M = 17.8 years, 49.0% female) and a group of 373 elderly adults (M=65 .90 years, 58.8% female). Respondents completed a Dutch paper-and-penc il version of the LRI. The LISREL confirmatory factor analytic model w as used to test for the equivalence of measurement and of structure of the instrument. Results show that in both age groups the items of the LRI were found to be distributed to the two a priori dimensions of me aning in life, Framework and Fulfillment. Only the factor loadings of the Framework items were invariant across both groups. Neither the err or of measurement, nor the structure of the underlying concept were eq uivalent for young and elderly adults. Young adults were found to expe rience less meaning in life than the elderly. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scienc e Ltd.