8/13/2019 15844904

1/5

FRAN KL'S WILL TO MEAN ING IN A RELIGIOUS O RDER'JAM ES C. CKUMBATJGH SIST ER MARY RA PH AE L RAYMO ND R SHRAD

Administratiim Hospital St Mary s Dominican College The Universityof TennGutfport,Mississippi New Orleans KnoxmUe

P R O B L E MTh is stud y employs the Purpose-in-Life (PIL ) T es t ' *' and a batteryona lity measures in the stu dy of m otivation in trainees for a religious order. TIL , which is constructed from th e orientation of Fran kl's will to meaning , The trainees of a congregation of Dom inican sisters were chosen for study. T

y are mostly teache rs, nurses and the like. Dom inican training extends oveear period: Po stu lan t or Aspiran t (first year ). Nov itiate (second yemporary Professed (five yea rs). The first three years are generally conductede isolation in a special convent. The tra inee th en moves into a socially actMETHOD

Subjects Sswere 56 trainee Sisters at various levels of training in the congrein the first three years (in the prep arato ry convent), an d 27 in advanced traAt the time of closing th e d ata, 19 of the 56 originally tested a year and a ier had dropped ou t; 37 still remained.

Materials The 56 Ss were a,dministered the following battery of psychomet2 items of P artAare the oart ob jectively scored. (2) The Gordon Personal Profile, (3) The Washington Soality Fac tor Tes t, (6) The Ca ttell M otiva tiona l Analysis Test, (7) The Kerr a

In addition, all completed a special biographical data blank and attitunaire.^ Eva luation of trainee proficiency was made by a special rating scthe second au thor .' Th is scale was completed for each trainee by tProcedure Since the trainees were scattered geographically, according to du

ege. Pa rticip atio n was entirely volun tary , and individual identity was crwise unconnected with the study.

RESULTS1. The trainee Sisters ' mean PIL score of 119.27 compared favorably w

8/13/2019 15844904

2/5

FRANKL SWILL TOMEANING IN ARELIGIOUS ORDER 2072. There was a subs tantial relationship (r = .48) between P IL scores and th eneral average of all ratings of proficiency in the train ing program . The re lation-p drops to .36 when proficiency ratings a re limited to those of the Superior S isters.

3. There was no high relationship between P IL scores and m easures of any r = .52) with theety scale of th e 16 P F tes t. The next highest relationship was with the self-4. Th ere was no significant difference betw een th e P IL scores of dro p-out

SUMMARYThe Purpose-in-Life (PIL ) Test (designed to measure Fran kl's will to mean-Results yielded high scores on the PI L , suggesting th a t a high degree of purposed meaning in life is both possessed and needed for success in the order. The P ILrelated substantia lly with ratin gs of success in train ing . W hile it did no t signi-

ean score was higher; and m any factors (such as family financial problems)th an success in training influenced dropout decisions.The relationship of the PIL to personality measures was found, as in previousREFERENCER

1. C B U M B A V G H , J , C . Cross-validation of Purpose-in-Life Test bfused ou Fraukl s concept. Jindivid.Psychot. 1968, S4, 74-81,2. CBV H BAV OH , J . C , an d M A H O U C K , L . T . A nexperimental study in existentialism:T hep.

8/13/2019 15844904

3/5

8/13/2019 15844904

4/5

A N D MOTIVATIONAL DISTORTION IN SELF KEPORT DATA 2

The results of th e three-factor analysis are depicted in Fig. 1. Th e prior sug-stion of a triple interactio n was statistically supp orted (F = 4.00, p

8/13/2019 15844904

5/5