What does a MLQ score mean?
If somebody has given you a MLQ score and not explained it, put it in below. This reads it against the instrument's own published table. You do not have to take anything.
The full published table
These ranges come from the instrument's own scoring documentation rather than from us. They describe groups of people, not individuals.
| Score | Interpretation | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| High (≥ 24) | The Fulfilled: High life satisfaction, stability, and contentment. They know their purpose and feel no need to look further. | |
| High (≥ 24) | The Seekers: They have a meaningful life, but are highly driven to expand it. Often seen in passionate activists, artists, and lifelong learners. | |
| Low (≤ 23) | The Crisis State: The classic "existential crisis." They lack meaning and are desperately trying to find it. Correlates with anxiety but shows a healthy drive for change. | |
| Low (≤ 23) | The Apathetic: The most dangerous clinical state (Apathy/Anhedonia). They have an empty life and have completely given up on trying to find meaning. High correlation with severe depression. |
Why a number on its own is not much use
A total tells you where a set of answers landed on a scale. It does not say which questions produced it, and two people reaching the same total can be having quite different weeks. A score driven by sleep and appetite is not the same as an identical score driven by hopelessness, and the difference changes what tends to help.
A score near the edge of a range is also less meaningful than the label makes it sound. Thresholds are drawn to be useful across a population, not to mark a real line between two states, so a point either way can change the word without changing the person.
If you would rather answer the questions
The MLQ is available here in full, free and without an account, and answering it gives you the breakdown a bare total cannot: take the MLQ.