The Satisfaction with Life Scale in Adolescent Samples: Measurement Invariance across 24 Countries and Regions, Age, and Gender

Abstract

Measurement of adolescent life satisfaction across cultures has not received much attention in previous empirical research. The present study evaluated measurement invariance of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) among adolescents in 24 countries and regions (N = 22,710; age range = 13–19 years; 53% female). A single-factor model with residual covariance between a pair of items tapping past life satisfaction fitted well in 19 countries and regions and showed a partial metric invariance. In a subset of nine countries and regions, partial scalar invariance was supported. Partial metric invariance across all 24 countries and regions was achieved when custom model modifications in five countries and regions were included. Three SWLS items showed evidence of noninvariance across cultures. The measurement model was found to operate similarly across gender and age. Our findings suggest that caution is needed when using the SWLS for measuring life satisfaction among adolescents from different cultures. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11482-021-10024-w.

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

“…Replicating findings from a series of studies on the measurement invariance of the SWLS in relation to gender [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ], clear evidence was found for scalar invariance with, as predicted [ 45 ], similar average life satisfaction scores for females and males.…”

“…In addition, using the Serbian version of the SWLS with a mixed sample of 2595 secondary school adolescents, undergraduate students, and community adults (62.2% females), Jovanović [ 37 ] found evidence of full scalar invariance across gender and partial scalar invariance across age. In a further study with the SWLS in adolescent samples conducted across 24 countries and regions (22,710 participants, 53% females), Jovanović et al [ 38 ] found support for full scalar invariance of the SWLS across gender in the pooled sample. This indicates that the corresponding items operated similarly among girls and boys in the full sample.…”

Further Validation of a Dutch Translation of the Sussex Oxford Compassion for the Self Scale in Samples of Crisis Line Volunteers, Military Personnel and Nursing Students

“…Future research focusing on different age groups and/or samples of different professions is warranted to improve understanding of these differences. Furthermore, while in the current study measurement invariance for age was studied by comparing different age groups, recent studies demonstrate the value of estimating measurement invariance for age using moderated factor analysis during which the age variable is considered as a moderating variable that interacts with the latent variable ( Molenaar, 2020 ; Jovanović et al, 2022 ). Future research employing this method of estimating measurement invariance is recommended to improve understanding of the differences that were shown in the current study.…”

Courage as Mediator between Positive Resources and General/Domain-Specific Well-Being Indices

“…The Cronbach’s alpha of the validation study was 0.88; in this study sample it was 0.85. The SWLS is the most-used scale for subjective well-being, and, recently, the scale has demonstrated measurement invariance across 24 countries, age, and gender [ 111 ].…”