THE LOGO-TEST: NORMING EXTENSIONS (LOGOTHERAPY, EXISTENTIAL VACUUM, NOOGENIC NEUROSIS, FRANKL)

The Logo-Test, which measures Viktor Frankl's logotherapy principle of perceived degree of meaning in life as well as measuring possible existential vacuum and noogenic neurosis, was developed in Austria by Elisabeth Lukas. This seminal study seeks to extend the norms from Europe, where the inventory had been used exclusively, to the United States. The Logo-Test was administered to a normal population, and the distribution of scores of the United States norming sample was found to parallel the European distribution closely. However, the American scores were significantly lower indicating a greater degree of perceived meaning in life from the American sample.;Half of the subjects also took James Crumbaugh's Purpose in Life Test which has been used in the United States since the 1960's as a measure of Frankl's principles. The scores on the Purpose in Life Test were found to correlate significantly with the Logo-Test scores, but the level of correlation was not as high as expected if the two inventories are measuring the same factors. Differences found in breaking down the scores against the variables of education and employment suggest that the Purpose in Life Test to some degree may measure success experience while the Logo-Test measures meaning experience more exactly. It was also found that the scores of younger subjects were significantly lower than those of other age groups on the Purpose in Life Test. The Logo-Test appears to hold promise as a valuable clinical and research instrument for United States' populations.