Meaning–metric psychobiographical analysis as a measurement tool for personal meaning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33910/2686-9527-2026-8-1-131-158Keywords:
personal meaning, personal meaning of a child for an adult, Meaning–Metric Psychobiographical Analysis, MPA, discriminating power, validity, reliabilityAbstract
Introduction. This article presents the psychometric development, validation, and standardization of the Meaning–Metric Psychobiographical Analysis (MPA), a novel method for evaluating the dynamic meaning systems of consciousness, personality, and human activity. The MPA is a generative approach aimed at inducing and facilitating live processes of meaning-making and meaning-awareness in the participant by setting and solving tasks related to the personal meaning of a stimulus object. The method measures intensity, modality, and differentiation of the personal meaning of a stimulus object.
Materials and Methods. Psychometric testing assessed the personal meaning of a child for adults. The heterogeneous and heterochronic sample included adults for whom a child (or children) represents an actual (present) or potential (possible) life circumstance (N = 3209). The study employed a multi-method design, validating MPA indices against established instruments, including the Value of Children Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Subjective Happiness Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Parental Stress Scale, Parental Burnout Inventory, Parental Self-Esteem Questionnaire, Coping with Infertility Scale, Career Satisfaction Scale, Questionnaire on Experiences in Professional Activities, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, and others.
Results. The MPA demonstrated high diagnostic potential and good correspondence with conventional psychometric standards. The study demonstrated the method’s discriminating power; content, face, ecological, criterion, construct (convergent and discriminant), and differential validity; and internal consistency and test-retest reliability.
Conclusion. The results suggest that the MPA is not so much a specific technique for diagnosing the personal meaning of a particular object or phenomenon, but rather a universal diagnostic approach that can be extrapolated to measure the personal meaning of a wide range of objects and phenomena within the context of the participant’s life circumstances. This allows for flexible adaptation and broad application of the MPA within both individual assessment and sample-based research of the personal meaning sphere.
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