Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ)
10-item version — Measure your sense of meaning and search for purpose
Do you feel your life has meaning? Are you searching for purpose? The MLQ separates these into two clear scales: Presence of Meaning and Search for Meaning. 10 items, about 3 minutes.
Does your life feel meaningful?
That's a big question, but psychologists have found a way to break it into two measurable parts: presence of meaning (do you feel your life has direction and value right now) and search for meaning (how actively are you looking for it).
The Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) measures both. Steger and his team put it together in 2006. It's ten items — five for presence, five for search — rated on a 7-point scale.
The two dimensions are surprisingly independent. You can score high on both (actively searching and already feeling your life has meaning), low on both, or any combination. People who score high on presence and low on search tend to report the highest well-being, while those high on search and low on presence tend to report more distress.
It's short enough to fit in any survey, and the presence/search distinction is genuinely useful.
Result Interpretation
Finish the 10 questions and you get your results straight away — no account, no sign-up, no waiting.
We calculate your total from your answers, then give you a plain-language explanation of what the numbers mean. Where a test has sub-scales, each dimension gets its own score. Whenever possible, we also show how your results compare to population norms.
详细报告 📊
Get an in-depth analysis with dimension breakdowns, population comparisons, and actionable recommendations.