Experienced Levels of Emptiness and Existential Concern with Different Levels of Emotional Development and Profile of Values

Abstract

This study explored the relationships of experienced levels of emptiness and existential concern with level of emotional development, as measured by the Definition/Response instrument of Gage, Morse, and Piechowski and profile of values as measured by the Allport, Vernon, and Lindzey Study of Values. 24 respondents completed measures of experienced levels of emptiness and existential concern, the Definition/Response instrument and the Study of Values. Hypotheses were tested using Pearson's r and multiple regression. Experienced level of emptiness was positively correlated with theoretical interest and level of emotional development and was inversely correlated with economic interest. Experienced existential concern was correlated directly with religious interest and with emotional development. These results question hypotheses about emptiness that (a) argue the experience of emptiness results solely from developmental deficits, (b) do not differentiate between “revealed emptiness” and “concealed emptiness,” and (c) neglect to include profile of values in the explanation.