Past research on peoples' self-reports of their meaning in life has not included those below college age. In contrast, the present study focused on such reports by 116 young adolescents. We found that the percentage seeming to understand what meaning in life was and able coherently to discuss their own was just as high as that found in older groups. Second, the types of meaning reported differed sufficiently from those of college students and other older subjects to require three new categories. A summary of results in relation to the maturity of the adolescents' meaning compared to that of the older samples yielded no solid conclusion.

The present study, by using 96 subjects ranging in age from 30 to 80 yr., set out to extend knowledge about meaning in life content areas of college students to the entire adult life span. The subjects were asked to write about, rank in order, and give an example of each of the three strongest meanings in their life. High interrater reliability (91% agreement) was achieved in categorizing the essays on meaning. Only 3% reported no meaning. The category of Relationships was most often reported followed by Belief, Health, Growth, Life Work, Service, and Understanding. The accompanying revisions, as well as suggested modifications, appear to be appropriate for describing categories of meaning across the adult life span.