A scale for measuring experienced levels of emptiness and existential concern

Abstract

Systematic measures are developed, with 270 Ss, predominantly students, for the concepts of experienced levels of emptiness and existential concern. These measures are then correlated with a measure of depressive affect. The measures were again correlated, this time with a sample of 24, with level of religious interest. Factor analysis demonstrates the two concepts of emptiness and existential concern to be discrete and stable. Experienced level of emptiness correlated highly with level of depressive affect. Existential concern, however, was not correlated with depressive affect, but was correlated with level of religious interest (as measured on the Allport, Vernon, and Lindzey A Study of Values). © 1984 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.