ArticleThe Psychiatric quarterly2025
Exploring the Vacuum: Development of Existential Vacuum Scale and its Relationship with Personality, Psychological Distress, Well-being, Loneliness and Intolerance of Uncertainty.
Article in The Psychiatric quarterly, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The Effect of Negative Perfectionism on Hollow Syndrome in Medical Students: Serial Mediation of Self-Esteem and Achievement Motivation and Moderating Role of Subjective Well-Being.Psychology research and behavior management · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
An existential vacuum is a pervasive sense of emptiness and meaninglessness that highlights an individual's struggle to find purpose and fulfillment. This article aims to create a valid and reliable Existential Vacuum Scale for adults and test it in a hypothetical model. Accordingly, this research, carried out in three studies, collected data from 28 different countries. In Study 1 (N = 547), confirmatory factor analysis validated the 15-item Existential Vacuum Scale. Item Response Analysis showed satisfactory scale item discrimination. The scale's reliability was confirmed by reliability analyses. In Study 2 (N = 368), correlations was analyzed. Existential vacuum, depression, anxiety, stress, mental well-being, and Big Five personality traits were strongly correlated. In Study 3 (N = 401), structural equation modelling revealed that intolerance of uncertainty partially mediated the relationship between existential vacuum and loneliness. People who feel life lacks meaning may have a lower tolerance to uncertainty and be more lonely. In other words, individuals with high existential vacuum may show lower tolerance for uncertainty, which may contribute to increased levels of loneliness. The presence of partial mediation suggests that intolerance of uncertainty is an important mechanism, but that the relationship between existential vacuum and loneliness can also be explained by other factors. In broadening the literature on existential vacuum, this research pioneers.
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Registered trials
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