German Translation of the Satisfaction With Life Scale for Children and Adolescents

Abstract

The research in the field of positive psychology is alive for children and adolescents, and especially the effects of intervention studies are promising. While a large number of instruments exist for adults, there is a need for greater attention to basic measurement work of constructs for children. The Satisfaction With Life Scale is one of the most common questionnaires used in the field of positive psychology. Whereas the adult version is translated into many languages, the child version has only been translated into a few languages yet. This is a limitation for countries where young students are not familiar with the English language. The aim of the present study was to translate the Satisfaction With Life Scale–child version (SWLS-C) into German with the use of a backtranslation-proceeding (Study 1) and to validate the questionnaire with a sample of 1,099 students aged 8 to 17 years (Study 2). This included retesting of reliability as well as concurrent and discriminant validity by additionally measuring several established constructs of positive psychology. Model fit indices, internal consistencies, retest reliability as well as concurrent and discriminant validity evidence were satisfying. The German version of the SWLS-C can be used in future studies, but to compare SWLS-C data of different nationalities more translations of the questionnaire as well as crosscultural measurement invariance studies are needed.

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“…Between 87.5% (126/144) and 91.6% (132/144) of the children completed the measures at baseline and follow-up. Although the mean scores and SDs are comparable with those found in other population and community samples [ 56 , 60 , 62 ], children in this study reported some difficulties with items on how they feel. Some children were unsure about the difference between items asking them about strong feelings and items asking them about powerful feelings.…”

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“…Responses to the six positive affect items were averaged (ω = .74) as were the responses to the six negative affect items (ω = .70). Life satisfaction was assessed using the German translation (Lang & Schmitz, 2020) of the Satisfaction With Life Scale–Child Version (Gadermann et al, 2010). Children were asked to indicate their agreement to five statements (e.g., “I am happy with my life”) on a scale ranging from 1 ( not at all true ) to 5 ( completely true ).…”

Measurement Invariance and Construct Validity of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) in Community Volunteers in Vietnam

“…The measure has also received attention from philosophers [ 7 ], and it is popular in national [ 3 , 8 , 9 ] and international [ 3 , 10 ] surveys of well-being. Special versions of the SWLS have been administered to children [ 11 ], adolescents [ 12 ], adults [ 3 , 13 ], and the elderly [ 3 , 9 ]. The SWLS has even been translated into American Sign Language [ 14 ].…”

“…In relation to dimensionality of the SWLS, Clench-Aas et al [ 23 ] argued that many studies have supported a unidimensional model with the proof that traditional exploratory factor analysis (EFA) indicated that a single latent factor accounted for a majority of the variance in life satisfaction scores when in fact, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) should have been the preferred analytic tool in view of the fact that there is a well-founded hypothesis and expectation about dimensionality [ 1 ]. Studies in which CFA was used found proof of a one-dimensional model, which clearly suggested that the same weight matrix (scoring key) employed in the country in which the SWLS originated (USA) could be transported to the new national group, for example, to Spain [ 24 ], Germany [ 11 ], Italy [ 25 ], Lithuania [ 26 ], and Greece [ 27 ]. These results are consistent with previous EFA evidence obtained in other populations [ 2 , 3 , 23 ].…”

“…These results are consistent with previous EFA evidence obtained in other populations [ 2 , 3 , 23 ]. However, straightforward, cross-cultural comparisons in terms of factor loading patterns or mean scale scores on the SWLS with data from comparable groups from the USA were neither intended nor yet carried out in those studies that employed EFA [ 2 , 3 , 11 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”