Despite the popularity of the study of borderline personality disorder, definition of “Chronic Emptiness” were applied to define the theoretical concept and never met an agreement among evaluators.

First, the preliminary questionnaire was prepared based on the previous studies and the data collected through the in-depth interviews with the people with borderline personality disorder, and the final 18 items were developed through the item analysis. In order to verify the reliability and validity of the emptiness scale, 526 adults from 18 to 40 years of age were tested for internal consistency coefficient, and factor analysis and validity test were conducted.

The internal consistency coefficient of the emptiness scale was very good. As a result of the factor analysis, it was confirmed that it has a single structure. On validity test, emptiness was highly correlated with borderline personality disorder, depression, and suicide ideation.

Emptiness is associated with identity problems, and adolescents tend to do NSSI to deal with emptiness related to identity formation. Until now, the terms of loneliness, solitude, and emptiness have not been sufficiently distinguished, but the distinction between the respective terms has become possible through measuring emptiness. The implications and limitations of this research and subsequent studies discussed.