Life Values Inventory

The Life Values Inventory, published by Applied Psychology Resources, contains 42 items, measures 14 relatively independent values, and takes 20 minutes to administer. The LVI was designed to help individuals clarify and prioritize their values and serve as a blueprint for decision making.

Values have long been viewed as important determinants of human behavior. Research has linked the essential aspect of values to organizational behavior, career decision making, academic performance, relationship satisfaction, and life role planning. They have also been identified as central determinants of culturally unique behavior and thus are critical to the understanding of cultural differences. The LVI was developed to provide an empirically based, easily administered values inventory with cultural sensitivity and practical utility. Applications of the LVI include career development, life role planning, adjustment and transition, retirement and leisure counseling, team building and organizational development, couples counseling, stress management, substance abuse counseling and education, and sport/performance psychology.

The 14 scales measured by the LVI are Achievement, Belonging, Concern for the Environment, Concern for Others, Creativity, Financial Prosperity, Health and Activity, Humility, Independence, Interdependence, Objective Analysis, Privacy, Responsibility, and Spirituality. The scales of the LVI were selected on the basis of a series of factor analytic studies. The scales were also reviewed for cultural sensitivity through two rounds of reviews by knowledgeable representatives of several cultural groups and subgroups.

In the process of taking the LVI, respondents are asked to both rate the strength of their values and rank them in order of importance. Respondents are first asked to rate the degree to which the beliefs contained in the 42 items are current guides to their behavior based on a 5-point Likert scale with markers for 1, 3, and 5. The markers are 1 = seldom guides my behavior, 3 = sometimes guides my behavior, and 5 = frequently guides my behavior. The next step in the assessment process is for individuals to rank order their most important values using the rating section as a guide. The final step is to rank the importance of the values they hope to have satisfied in each of three life roles: Work, Important Relationships, and Leisure and Community Activities. The test was updated in 2002 to improve the utility of the LVI for counseling and consulting purposes while trying to maintain the empirical validity of the 14 scales.