MEASURING SERVICE-MINDEDNESS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH SPIRITUALITY AND LIFE SATISFACTION.

A self-report measure of service-mindedness was designed in order to fill in a gap in the literature and evaluate a potential link between spirituality and satisfaction with life. A sample of 133 undergraduate students at a Catholic university in the Mid-west completed the Service-Mindedness Scale (SMS), along with the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). The sample consisted of 45 males (33.8%) and 88 females (66.2%), whose ages ranged from 18 to 24 (M = 19.03, SD = 1.24). Results indicated that the SMS has strong internal consistency as measured by Cronbach's Alpha (a = .934), and that service-mindedness acts as a significant mediator between spirituality and life satisfaction (R[sup 2] = .111). Implications involve increasing service-oriented motives in Jesuit education programs to further align with spiritual goals and increase student life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]