The Danish Purpose in Life test‐Short Form (PIL‐SF): Validation and age effects

Abstract

The present article reports a study conducted to develop and validate a Danish translation of the Purpose in Life test-Short Form (PIL-SF) and examine age effects on this eudemonic measure. The study examined the reliability, unidimensionality, and construct validity of the Danish PIL-SF using a large and representative sample (N = 4,849). The results indicated that the Danish PIL-SF is a reliable and valid measure of meaning and purpose in life, positively associated with but distinct from hedonic well-being. The high degree of similarity between the measurement properties of the Danish PIL-SF, as compared with the English-language PIL-SF, supports the validity of the Danish translation. Furthermore, the unidimensional structure of the Danish measure replicates the structure of the English-language PIL-SF. Given its large and representative sample, the present study provides the current best estimate of a normative population value for the PIL-SF. Also, the present study is the first to our knowledge to explore potential relationships between age and the PIL-SF, and a small positive effect of age on the Danish PIL-SF was found. Limitations and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Cross-cultural measurement invariance of the purpose in life test - Short form (PIL-SF) in seven Latin American countries

“…Also, the PIL-SF was shown to be equally reliable in all 7 countries. These results are similar to those reported in previous studies (García-Alandete et al, 2017 ; Pacak-Vedel et al, 2021 ; Schulenberg et al, 2011 ). The findings support the factorial structure and reliability in different countries and contribute to expanding the use of the PIL-SF, both for use in research and in clinical settings.…”

“…Additionally, the characteristics of the PIL-SF items were evaluated using an Item Response Theory (IRT) model. It is expected that the unidimensional structure of the PIL-SF will also be present in this group of Latin American countries and will present an adequate reliability estimate, as previously reported (García-Alandete et al, 2017 ; Pacak-Vedel et al, 2021 ). Likewise, although no measurement invariance studies of the PIL-SF have been carried out among different countries, it would be expected that the measure is invariant, considering that the undimensional structure has shown good fit in previous psychometric studies.…”

“…Second, it has made an important contribution to increasing the scope of application of the PIL-SF in the Latin American context. This is valuable because of the evidence that the scale is related to well-being (Pacak-Vedel et al, 2021 ). In addition, samples from different countries have been used, which helps to make the findings more robust.…”

“…The results were similar whether the PIL-SF was administered independently or in conjunction with the original 20-item PIL. Subsequent studies have also reported an adequate fit of the unidimensional model and good reliability in Spain (García-Alandete et al, 2017 ) and Denmark (Pacak-Vedel et al, 2021 ) using confirmatory factor analysis models. From Rasch analysis, support has also been provided for the unidimensionality and good reliability of the PIL-SF in a pooled sample of people with spinal cord injuries from Germany, France and Italy (Peter et al, 2016 ).…”

“…The PIL-SF has been used in different countries, including Spain (García-Alandete et al, 2017 ), the United States (Aiena et al, 2016 ; Schulenberg et al, 2011 ; Schulenberg et al, 2016 ; Weber et al, 2020 ), China (Lew et al, 2021 ; Wang et al, 2016 ), Iran (Cheraghifard et al, 2021 ), Germany, France and Italy (Peter et al, 2016 ) and Denmark (Pacak-Vedel et al, 2021 ). However, although the PIL-SF was proposed more than 10 years ago, there is no evidence of it having been used in studies in Latin America, which limits the global generalization of the results.…”