Constructing a Meaningful Life Index and Happiness Self-Assessment: from Existential Theory to a Practical Diagnostic Tool for Psychologists

The concept of meaning in life, despite its profound philosophical and existential roots, has increasingly become an object of empirical psychological research and applied practice, particularly under conditions of crisis, war, loss, and radical social transformation.Even in the most extreme circumstances, a person retains freedom of inner choice through the search for meaning in life, as emphasized in Viktor Frankl's logotherapy [1].Under such conditions, the question of meaning becomes not only theoretical but also applied, requiring appropriate diagnostic instruments that can support psychological work in real-life contexts.Within existential psychology, qualitative methods traditionally prevail over quantitative ones.While qualitative approaches allow for depth and phenomenological richness, they limit the possibilities for analyzing individual dynamics of meaning orientation and for conducting statistical comparisons across social groups.Quantitative tools, despite their methodological challenges, make it possible to operationalize existential constructs, monitor changes over time, and integrate meaning-related variables into broader psychological research designs.However, the quantification of existential phenomena raises a fundamental methodological and ethical question: can meaning in life be "measured," and if so, how can this be done without reducing a deeply personal and complex phenomenon to a mere numerical score?Existential measurement inevitably involves the risk of reductionism, that is, the oversimplification of lived experience into abstract indicators [2].At the same time, the absence of practical assessment tools significantly complicates psychological support in crisis situations, where a rapid yet International Scientific and Practical Conference "Current Issues, Problems, and Prospects for the Development of Science, Education, Technology, and Society"