Purpose in Life Questionnaire for High School Populations: A Unidimensional Factor Structure for High School Students

Abstract

This study examines the Purpose in Life (PIL) questionnaire and attempts to find the most appropriate factor matrix structure
when it is applied to a high school population. The goal of the study is to find a simple structure factor matrix with high reliability
as measured by Cronbach’s alpha. Participants (N = 659) were randomly selected from all four grades of Washington State
metropolitan area high schools. Findings indicate that while various multidimensional matrix structures exist for the instrument
when used with an adult population, when used with a high school population, there emerges a strong unidimensional factor
matrix with a simple structure; it both fits the data well and results in very strong reliability (Cronbach’s α = .900). This analysis
suggests that revising the PIL from 20 to 14 questions for high schoolers results in a unidimensional instrument, strongly
supported by all 14 questions and measuring with a very high reliability.