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Measuring the unmeasurable: Psychometric tools for Existential Concerns

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ES

Evgeny Smirnov

7 papers

All papers in the expert’s recommended reading order. The full collection as the expert intended it.

Introduction

Key psychometric instruments for measuring existential concerns: meaning in life, existential isolation, and existential anxiety.

1
Must Read
beginner

The meaning in life questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life.

Michael F. Steger, Patricia Frazier, Shigehiro Oishi et al. · 2006 · Journal of Counseling Psychology

At a Glance

New questionnaire MLQ to measure meaning in life through Presence and Search domains

Summary

The authors created Meaning in Life Questionnaire in a positive context (Frankl's construction of meaning concept). The scale has 2 subscales (Presence and Search), 5 questions each. The tool is heavily used by other researchers and has many adaptations to different languages. Worth using if one needs to assess meaning in life or existential concern of meaninglessness.

A nice replacement of the old PIL scale that can assess the existential concern of meaninglessness, though some questions have arguable discriminant validity. To use!

— ES

Method:
creating and validating a new scale
Background:
basic existential notions (meaning in life); Frankl + Yalom
4
Worth Reading
intermediate

Flexibility in Existential Beliefs and Worldviews

Matthieu Van Pachterbeke, Johannes Keller, Vassilis Saroglou · 2012 · Journal of Individual Differences

At a Glance

Introduces a 9-item scale for "existential quest," measuring flexibility in existential beliefs beyond religiosity.

SummaryAI

The paper proposes "existential quest" (EQ) as a distinct tendency to question and revise one's existential beliefs and worldviews, regardless of whether one is religious. Across five studies in Belgium and Germany, the authors develop and validate a brief 9-item EQ scale and show it is not reducible to religious quest, search for meaning, dogmatism, or need for closure. EQ consistently relates to lower authoritarianism and cognitive rigidity and to higher empathy/altruism, and it predicts less "myside bias" in argument generation even when controlling for adjacent constructs. This provides researchers in existential, social, and personality psychology a compact tool to study open-mindedness specifically about existential worldviews, with implications for understanding ideological rigidity and perspective-taking.

The classical Religious quest scale has a limitation: it works only with religious people. EQ resolves this problem, following a similar design of the questions and sharing a similar idea.

— ES

Method:AI
Psychometric scale development and validation across multiple samples using correlational, behavioral-task, factor-analytic, and IRT analyses.
Background:
Basic knowledge of personality/social psychology measurement (psychometrics, individual differences, and construct validity) + Religious Quest Scale + Basic knowledge of existential psychology
5
Niche
intermediate

Death Anxiety Handbook: Research, Instrumentation, And Application(pdf)

Edited By Robert A. Neimeyer · 2015

At a GlanceAI

Handbook synthesizing theory and validated instruments for assessing death anxiety, threat, and attitudes, with guidance for research and practice.

SummaryAI

This edited volume matters because it addresses a chronic problem in death-anxiety research: heavy use of convenient but psychometrically weak measures and weak theory-to-measure fit. It consolidates six of the most used and best-validated tools (with scoring keys) and critically reviews their reliability, validity, dimensionality, and appropriate applications. Beyond measurement, it links major philosophical/psychological theories to testable research directions and illustrates applied uses in settings like nursing homes, psychotherapy, HIV care, near-death experiences, and death education. The implication is a more cumulative, comparable literature—where investigators choose measures based on constructs and populations, not just face validity or a single alpha value.

A really nice collection of the instruments of how to assess death atittudes or anxiety

— ES

Method:
Mostly empirical, though there are some theoretical considerations.
Background:
death studies; background in psychological measurement/psychometrics and basic thanatology/clinical or health psychology concepts
6
Worth Reading
intermediate

Paul Tillich's theory of existential anxiety: A preliminary conceptual and empirical examination

Carl F. Weems, Natalie M. Costa, Christopher Dehon et al. · 2004 · Anxiety, Stress & Coping

At a Glance

Introduces and validates the EAQ, a brief scale testing Tillich’s 3-domain model of existential anxiety and links it to distress

SummaryAI

This paper brings Paul Tillich’s philosophical theory of existential anxiety into testable psychological science by operationalizing his three domains — death/fate, meaninglessness/emptiness, and guilt/condemnation. The authors develop a short self-report instrument (EAQ) and show, across two diverse student samples, that it has acceptable reliability and a factor structure broadly consistent with Tillich’s model. EAQ scores are common in the population and correlate with both anxiety and depression symptoms, while also predicting identity-related distress beyond an established "purpose in life" measure. The work suggests existential concerns are measurable, prevalent, and clinically relevant, motivating longitudinal and clinical-diagnosis studies.

One of the first (and good!) attempt to operationalize Tillich's notions of existential (ontological) anxiety and differentiate it from the regular one. IMO more reliable (content validity) than ECQ.

— ES

Method:
Scale development plus psychometric validation using confirmatory factor analysis and correlational/regression tests of convergent and incremental validity in two samples.
Background:
Basic knowledge of psychology measurement (reliability/validity), factor analysis, and core existential psychology concepts (death, meaning, guilt) under Tillch's framework.
7
Must Read
intermediate

Existential Concerns Arising From a Threat to the Belief in a Just World: A Mixed-Methods Study(pdf)

Evgeny Smirnov, Maria Makarova · 2025 · Journal of Humanistic Psychology

At a GlanceAI

Threats to belief in a just world are linked to higher existential anxiety, shown via interviews and survey comparisons in Russians.

SummaryAI

This study connects threats to belief in a just world with heightened existential concerns, framing injustice experiences as triggers of existential anxiety. Using in-depth interviews with people who perceived events as unjust, the authors identify themes of existential problems becoming salient after such experiences. A follow-up quantitative comparison across groups with different coping strategies for critical events finds higher existential anxiety among those facing threats to their just-world belief, with medium-to-large group differences. The work positions just-world threat as a psychologically meaningful pathway to existential distress, relevant for research and practice on coping with injustice.

Many people believe that the existential concerns are givens of the existence. However, it could be the case that they are triggered by other fundamental beliefs, such as a belief in a just world.

— ES

Method:AI
Mixed-methods design combining qualitative in-depth interviews with a quantitative survey using standardized scales.
Background:AI
Basic knowledge of belief in a just world, existential anxiety/concerns, and mixed-methods research in psychology.