Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups
Yazarlar (1)
Prof. Dr. Kerime Derya BEYDAĞ Yalova Üniversitesi, Türkiye
Makale Türü Açık Erişim Özgün Makale (SSCI, AHCI, SCI, SCI-Exp dergilerinde yayınlanan tam makale)
Dergi Adı Plos One (Q2)
Dergi ISSN 1932-6203 Dergi Bilgileri (2025)
Dergi Tarandığı Indeksler SCI-Expanded
Makale Dili Türkçe Basım Tarihi 01-2025
Kabul Tarihi – Yayınlanma Tarihi 22-01-2025
Cilt / Sayı / Sayfa 20 / 1 / – DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0313107
Makale Linki https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313107
UAK Araştırma Alanları
Doğum ve Kadın Hastalıkları Hemşireliği
Özet
The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used self-report measure of subjective well-being, but studies of its measurement invariance across a large number of nations remain limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset–with data collected between 2020 and 2022 –to assess measurement invariance of the SWLS across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups (N = 56,968). All participants completed the SWLS under largely uniform conditions. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that configural and metric invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional SWLS model has universal applicability. Full scalar invariance was achieved across gender identities and age groups. Based on alignment optimisation methods, partial scalar invariance was achieved across all but three national groups and across all languages represented in the BINS. There were large differences in latent SWLS means across nations and languages, but negligible-to-small differences across gender identities and age groups. Across nations, greater life satisfaction was significantly associated with greater financial security and being in a committed relationship or married. The results of this study suggest that the SWLS largely assesses a common unidimensional construct of life satisfaction irrespective of respondent characteristics (i.e., national group, gender identities, and age group) or survey presentation (i.e., survey language). This has important implications for the assessment of life satisfaction across nations and provides information that will be useful for practitioners aiming to promote subjective well-being internationally.
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