The Life Attitude Profile (LAP): A multidimensional instrument for assessing attitudes toward life.

Abstract
The development of the Life Attitude Profile (LAP), a multidimensional measure of attitudes toward life, was described. The instrument was designed to assess the degree of existential meaning and purpose in life and the strength of motivation to find meaning and purpose. Principal component factor analyses performed on the responses of 219 undergraduate psychology students to the 56 item, 7 point Likert scale resulted in the extraction of 7 primary dimensions of life attitudes and 3 higher order factors, accounting for 48% and 67% of the total variance, respectively. Alpha and theta estimates of the internal consistency of the factor scales ranged from satisfactory to very good. Strong support for the validity of a number of the LAP dimensions was obtained; LAP dimensions were also shown to be relatively free from the influence of social desirability. Males scored significantly higher on the death acceptance dimension and on the total LAP compared to females. Age was significantly related to a number of the LAP factors for males but not for females. Further research should directly examine the utility of the LAP as a predictor of a number of relevant educational, social and psychological variables.

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