What Does Meaning Mean? the Conceptualisation, Measurement, Correlates and Latent Profiles of Belief about Meaning in Life

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.