The degree of distinctness between eudaimonia and hedonia has often been studied by comparing subjective well-being and psychological well-being. It is argued here that the distinctness is best studied when both concepts are measured in parallel terms, e.g., both as momentary feelings, both as trait-level motives, etc. We classified measures of eudaimonia and hedonia into three categories identified by Huta and Waterman (2014) – orientations/motives, behaviors, experiences/feelings – crossed with two hierarchical levels (Vallerand, 1997) – global/trait, situational/state. Within cells of this classification, degree of distinctness between theoretically eudaimonic and theoretically hedonic variables was examined using exploratory factor analytic methods and inter-correlations. Thirty-one measures of eudaimonia and hedonia were studied, across seven global studies and three situational studies, with each situational study addressing a different time span (the moment, one day, one week). It was found that eudaimonia and hedonia were clearly distinct as global or situational orientations/motives, global behaviors, and situational experiences for the momentary time span. Eudaimonia and hedonia showed little or subtle distinctness when measured as global experiences, or situational experiences for a one-week time span. When forcing one-factor solutions of global or situational experiences, positive affect accounted for the most variance in overall well-being; life satisfaction accounted for less variance, but was still a good proxy for overall well-being experience.
The Personal Wellbeing Index was designed to measure the well-being through 7 domains of life satisfaction. The study focuses on the factor structure of the Personal Well-being scale (PWI) in its 7 item Spanish version for Uruguay. The total sample included 5514 school-going adolescents from 12 to 21 years old. We conducted a confirmatory factor analysis for 3 different age ranges, from 12 to 14, 15 to 17 and 18 to 21 years old. Cronbach’s alpha was estimated in a range between .80 and .82 in the 3 age groups, while McDonald’s omega-coefficient ranges between .84 and .86. Results show that the PWI is an instrument with good psychometric properties suitable to be used with school-going adolescents. The uni-dimensional structure of the instrument was confirmed across age groups. Having instruments to assess the well-being of adolescents could complement mental health screening providing information that could be included in educational and health policymaking in our region.
Western samples have demonstrated greater optimism than East Asian samples, however, the factor structure of the Life Orientation Test (LOT) is not always consistent. Measurement properties of scales may differ across cultures, potentially biasing estimation of group differences. This study examined the factor structure and measurement invariance of the LOT-Revised among Japanese and American adults. A representative sample of 1805 American and 1027 Japanese adults was utilized. CFA was used to compare 1-factor and 2-factor models of optimism within samples and examine the measurement invariance of the LOT-R across samples. The 2-factor model was superior and demonstrated partial weak invariance. Levels of optimism and pessimism were also compared across samples. Japanese adults demonstrated lower levels of optimism and greater levels of pessimism than American adults. Findings highlight the importance of assessing measurement invariance in cross-cultural research, suggest exercising caution when using the LOT-R, and provide evidence that optimism and pessimism function as separate constructs.
This paper reports on an investigation of the psychometric properties of the PERMA Profiler—a popular measure of well-being—with a large sample of Australian adults ( n = 1942). We assessed the factor structure, scale reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity of the Profiler. Theory and evidence point to a second-order factor structure whereby the five PERMA elements constitute first-order factors that in turn load on a single general well-being factor. The Profiler displayed acceptable reliability for all subscales except Engagement and demonstrated the expected convergent relationships with measures of Flourishing, Optimism, Depression, and Psychological Distress. Further, the expected discriminate relationships were observed with measures of Anxiety and Stress. An important contribution of this research is to suggest that the elements of the Profiler all reflect, to an extent, a single general well-being factor. At a practical level, we provide information on the strengths and limitations of the Profiler in order to aid researchers and practitioners in their work.
Previous research has provided contradicting findings on whether valuing and pursuing happiness is beneficial or detrimental to one’s level of well-being. These contradicting findings might be resolved by considering these so-called Happiness Goal Orientations (HGO) as a multidimensional construct. The goals of this paper were (1) to present a new multidimensional scale to measure HGO and (2) to investigate whether the different dimensions of the scale are differentially related to well-being. Inspired by theories that distinguish between different dimensions of motivational systems and goal pursuit, we developed and validated the HGO Scale in four independent studies. The scale distinguishes two dimensions: Happiness-Related Strivings represent the propensity to move actively and persistently toward the desired level of happiness. Happiness-Related Concerns represent the propensity to worry about and to focus on threats to one’s level of happiness. Happiness- Related Strivings are associated with approach-related constructs, positivity, successful strategies to regulate one’s moods and emotions, endorsing a broad range of happiness definitions, and the intention to pursue different happiness definitions in everyday life. Happiness-Related Concerns are associated with avoidance-related constructs, anxiety, poor strategies to regulate one’s moods and emotions, defining happiness solely as the absence of negativity, and having no intentions to pursue happiness in everyday life. Happiness-Related Strivings are positively associated with well-being, whereas Happiness-Related Concerns are negatively associated with well-being. These differential associations with well-being demonstrate the importance of considering HGO as a multidimensional construct and that HGO can be both beneficial and detrimental to one’s level of well-being.
Despite the wide range of wellbeing frameworks utilised globally, no consensus exists regarding how a wellbeing framework might be assessed. This article aims to fill this gap by proposing a method of assessment to review potential indicators of wellbeing and then shows how this method can be used to assess evidence for a number of indicators. It answers the research question: what indicators have been successfully validated and applied in population settings? To identify the current evidence and any potential research gaps, we investigated key international and Australian frameworks on wellbeing. After identifying the wellbeing indicators used in these frameworks, we assessed the quality of evidence in the academic literature using three criteria: frequency of use, reliability and availability. We then made an overall assessment of the indicators’ practicality and usability weighing up both the quality of evidence and data availability. From the 96 indicators analysed, we identified 16 high usability indicators in the domains of economic, home, health, education and skills, and social and community. These indicators are household income, educational attainment, employment, unemployment, financial hardship, overcrowding, housing affordability, homelessness, life expectancy, self-reported health status, disability, smoking behaviour, mental health, cognitive skills, social network/support and volunteering. This practical method of assessment is not limited to wellbeing indicators and can also be applied in other settings, providing a useful tool for policymakers across the world.
Despite their suitability for mitigating survey biases and their potential for enhancing information richness, open and semi-open job satisfaction questions are rarely used in surveys. This is mostly due to the high costs associated with manual coding and difficulties that arise when validating text measures. Recently, advances in computer-aided text analysis have enabled researchers to rely less on manual coding to construct text measures. Yet, little is known about the validity of text measures generated by computer-aided text analysis software and only a handful of studies have attempted to demonstrate their added value. In light of this gap, drawing on a sample of 395 employees, we showed that the responses to a semi-open job satisfaction question can reliably and conveniently be converted into a text measure using two types of computer-aided sentiment analysis: SentimentR, and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) 2015. Furthermore, the substantial convergence between the LIWC2015 and, in particular, SentimentR measure with a closed question measure of job satisfaction and logical associations with closed question measures of constructs that fall within and outside job satisfaction’s nomological network, suggest that a semi-open question has adequate convergent and discriminant validity. Finally, we illustrated that the responses to our semi-open question can be used to fine-tune the computer-aided sentiment analysis dictionaries and unravel antecedents of job satisfaction.
Robust evidence links students’ positive mental health with academic achievement and provides a compelling rationale for developing and refining strength-based assessments. The Social Emotional Health Survey–Secondary (SEHS-S) assesses adolescents’ social and emotional skills and positive psychological dispositions. Previous studies provide reliability and validity evidence; nonetheless, there is a need for continued refinement and validation across diverse groups. The current study revised and standardized the updated SEHS-S-2020 to validate further its use in secondary schools (Grades 9–12) with a large, diverse adolescent sample. Study participants included 72,740 from 113 California schools (structural validation sample), 10,757 students from 15 randomly selected California schools (criterion validation sample), and 707 students from four additional California schools (test-retest sample). Data analyses examined structural validity, measurement invariance, criterion validity, internal consistency, and response stability. Results supported the SEHS-S-2020 validity across diverse groups of youth in various contexts. The discussion focuses on implications for assessing students’ psychosocial assets and universal school-based screening.
New techniques for multiple moment assessment allow us to assess how people feel at different times of the day. These techniques are mostly used to assess how well people feel during particular activities, such as during work or childcare. In this paper we focus on the difference in how well people feel at work and at home. The following questions are addressed: 1) How large is the difference in mood at work and at home? 2) How much does the difference in mood at work and at home vary across kinds of people and occupations? 3) Is the difference in mood at work and at home associated with job satisfaction as measured using common general retrospective ratings or does it tap another aspect of job satisfaction? We explore answers to these questions, using data from a diary study in the Netherlands, done using an e-application of the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) in which 1,410 people provided information about mood experienced in 32,000 episodes. We found that the average difference in mood at work and at home is small in this sample but that it varies across people and occupations. We found a low correlation of the difference in mood with the respondent’s retrospective ratings of their general job satisfaction, which suggests that there is more in the phenomena of job satisfaction than is measured using the usual questions on general job satisfaction. This, as yet unrecognized, aspect of job satisfaction is likely to add to information demands behind common measurements of job satisfaction, that is, to indicate the quality of the work conditions and estimate chances to improve worker performance and reduce turnover by making work more satisfying. We suggest an agenda for research in these areas of possible gains.
While the reliability and validity of the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) has been studied across several countries, it has not received as much attention in low to upper middle-income countries in Asia. The purpose of this study is to explore the psychometric properties of the SHS in four Southeastern Asian countries. This study is a subset of a larger cross-sectional survey in 27 low and middle-income countries worldwide, which examined health-behaviors among undergraduates. The current study included four low and middle-income countries in Asia, with a total of 2539 participants that completed self‐report instruments assessing socio‐demographic information and a measure of happiness using the SHS. The main data analytical approach was item response theory (IRT). Consistent with previous studies, Item-4 was found to be problematic. Lastly, based on the number of items and the response options, considerations for a revised instrument are recommended if the SHS is to be used in this population.
Subjective well-being is a universal and vital element of human flourishing. The WHO-5 is one of the most widely used scales for assessing general well-being and depression. Despite translations in over 30 languages, no comprehensive study has thus far examined the measurement equivalence of the WHO-5 across countries and time. Lack of measurement invariance might occur because of the variation in how people in different societies respond to surveys or differences in the cultural norms surrounding the expression of well-being and emotions. In this study, we relied on three waves of the European Quality of Life Survey ( 2009 , 2014 , 2017a , 2017b ) to determine to what extent the WHO-5 taps the same construct in an equivalent fashion across 36 European countries over an 8-year span. We found evidence for both configural and metric invariance across different conceptualizations of culture and indicators of response styles. Although scalar invariance was not reliably found in multigroup factor analysis, results from alignment optimization revealed adequate approximate invariance across groupings, suggesting that the WHO-5 is applicable for cross-cultural mean comparisons. However, it is debatable if approximate invariance is sufficient to establish a clinical criterion for depression/impaired mental health. We discuss the implications of our results.
University student engagement is a construct resembling work engagement from a psychological perspective. Student engagement is positively related to personal resources, improved performance and on-time graduation. Its socio-economic impacts concern all the stakeholders of higher education. The structure of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale consisted of three dimensions, Vigor, Dedication and Absorption, is investigated. This is the first time that student engagement was measured in Greece. Hence, the purpose of this paper was to investigate the factorial structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student version for measuring student engagement in a sample of 462 students from all schools of University of Patras. The factorial structure which derived by a series of statistical analyses consisted of 9 items distributed in 2 dimensions (Vigor and Dedication-Absorption). This factorial structure presents measurement invariance across gender and order of choice of the department of attendance. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student version is a brief and eligible instrument with satisfactory psychometric properties thus proposed for measuring student engagement in the Greek university context.
Wellness is a construct that is commonly employed in the social and health science lexicon and has gained increased popular acceptance through the advent of wellness centers and programs. Though it is agreed that wellness is multidimensional, previous conceptualizations and assessments of wellness vary in both number and type of dimensions as well as in the psychometric adequacy of the assessments. This study’s purpose was to improve the current state of the wellness research by demonstrating the reliability and validity of the newly developed Anschutz Wellness Evaluation 360 (AWE 360), a comprehensive assessment of wellness that includes seven dimensions: perceived wellness, stress, financial stress, occupational wellness, sleep quality, diet quality, and physical activity. Three samples (Sample 1: N = 427; Sample 2: N = 100; Sample 3: N = 1711) completed the AWE 360 scales as well as commonly used measures of relevant constructs. Analyses included exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, reliability analyses, and assessment of convergent and discriminant validity. After exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the final measure included eight scales. Reliability analyses indicated that the scales demonstrated adequate internal consistency. Correlational analyses provided early evidence for construct validity of the AWE 360. Results suggest the AWE 360 is an empirically supported measure with initial evidence for both reliability and validity. Future research should continue to explore the criterion validity and other psychometric properties of the AWE 360 as well as its practical ecological validity in applied and clinical settings.
Vigor is one of the terms that represents an individual’s positive affect, hence it is expected to be embedded in wellness measures. However, vigor is understudied especially when it comes to adolescents’ wellness. Two studies were performed to check the adaptability of the Adolescent Vigor Measure (AVM), a slightly revised version of Shirom-Melamed Vigor Measure (SMVM; Shirom, 2005) for the measurement of adolescents’ vigor. Study 1 was conducted among adolescents who experience stressful life-threatening circumstances (N = 563) and confirmed the internal structure of the AVM and concurrent validity in relation to measures of coping with stress. Study 2 was conducted among adolescents who live in peaceful and welcoming circumstances (N = 124) and replicated Study 1’s findings, including its structure and association to related measurements of students’ positive feelings. The similar findings in the two studies support the usefulness of the AVM as an easy tool to administer and an efficient scale of adolescents’ vigor.
At first glance, hope and optimism appear to be two almost identical concepts. The predominant cognitive theories maintain that both are based on positive future expectancies regarding goal attainment. However, other approaches recommend distinguishing between hope and future expectancies and sustain that the differences between hope and optimism are of a more substantial nature. The present study investigates the distinction between a new short instrument to measure hope as perceived by the general public, and dispositional optimism as measured by the revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) in a South African sample. After comparing both instruments using confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modelling in Mplus, a number of encouraging results emanated from the data. First, the Perceived Hope Scale (PHS) is a unitary and coherent measure of perceived hope. Second, perceived hope, as measured by the PHS, and optimism and pessimism as measured by the LOT-R, are psychometrically distinguished latent dimensions, optimally specified by their indicator variables. Furthermore, perceived hope represents a fundamental construct in the prediction of health outcomes and well-being and is an important antecedent to optimism and dispositional hope. Perceived hope is thus an important additional facet to consider in investigating well-being.
As positive organizational behavior research expands internationally, it is necessary to evaluate often-utilized measures for consistency across countries. The aim of this study was to identify three such scales—The PsyCap Questionnaire (PCQ), the Short Grit Scale (SGS), and the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ)—and evaluate their psychometric properties in Chilean and US workers. The Chilean sample (n = 264) was comprised of employees currently enrolled in an MBA program and completed surveys in-person. The USA sample (n = 289) was comprised of employees recruited from MTurk and completed surveys online. Analyses revealed that the 12-item version of the PCQ was superior to the 24-item version. A bifactor model was superior to a one- or two-factor model when using the SGS. Strong measurement invariance was supported for the PCQ-12 and the SGS, but not the GQ. Chileans reported higher PsyCap and general grit compared to US workers. The PCQ-12 and SGS can be reliably used and compared across Chile and the USA, but the GQ requires more study.
When job satisfaction is measured in national panel surveys using a rating scale that consists of many response categories the psychometric quality of the data obtained is often reduced. One reason lies in an inappropriate category use (e.g., in terms of response styles or ignoring superfluous categories), which occurs when respondents are faced with an overwhelmingly large number of response options. The use of response styles can also be triggered by stable respondent characteristics. The objective of the present between-subject experimental study is to explore the impact of rating scale length on the occurrence of inappropriate category use and scale reliability. In addition, this study investigates which stable respondent characteristics and job-related factors consistently predict the use of a particular response style across all experimental conditions. A sample of MTurk workers ( N = 7042) filled out a 12-item online questionnaire on aspects of job satisfaction, with a 4-, 6-, or 11-point rating scale randomly assigned. Considering the three-dimensional structure of the job satisfaction measure, we applied a multidimensional extension of the restricted mixed generalized partial credit model to explore category use patterns within each condition. The results show a similar configuration of three response-style classes in all conditions. Nevertheless, the proportion of respondents who used the rating scale inappropriately was lower in the conditions with fewer response categories. An exception was the extreme response style, which showed a similar prevalence rate in all conditions. Furthermore, we found that the use of extreme response style can be explained by a high level of general self-efficacy and perceived job autonomy, regardless of rating scale length. The findings of the study demonstrate that the prevalence of inappropriate category use can be reduced by administering rating scales with six or four response categories instead of eleven. These findings may be extended to other domains of life satisfaction.
Positive thinking is a source of mental health. Hope, optimism, and generalized self-efficacy (GSE) are three factors of positive thinking that are strongly correlated but theoretically distinct. Specifically, these positive thinking factors covary with subjective well-being (composed of positive affect, negative affect, and satisfaction with life; SWB) and depression. However, the distinctiveness of hope, optimism, and GSE and their independent contributions to predicting SWB and depression is not well documented empirically. The present study used confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling in a large (n = 6077), older (M = 62.49, SD = 11.63), German sample. The sample was 51.3% male with no statistically significant differences in the predictors based on gender. We found the following results. First, the three factors of hope, optimism, and GSE better accounted for their individual items than a single overarching factor of positive thinking. However, because hope and GSE were not identifiable as distinct latent constructs in this sample (r = .98), they were modeled as one construct in subsequent analyses. Second, combined hope/GSE and optimism had a strong positive relationship (r = .74) among themselves and a weak to moderate positive relationship with higher SWB (positive affect, r = .70; negative affect, r = −.42; satisfaction with life, r = .68) and lower depression (r = −.44). Third, hope/GSE and optimism in the same model had unique weak to moderate latent effects on SWB and depression. The fact that hope and GSE were not distinguishable in this sample ran contrary to the existing literature. Overall, the positive thinking factors were highly correlated with each other and were found to be significant predictors of higher well-being and lower depression in this sample. Further investigation of the lack of distinctiveness of positive thinking in this sample is warranted given these unexpected findings.
The current study aimed to examine psychometric properties of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) in an Irish sample, including metric and configural invariance, convergent validity and internal consistency. Previous research has identified the scale as a unidimensional structure in a variety of different cultural and linguistic settings. Participants were 106 men and 139 women from a large Irish university (Age: M = 20.95; SD = 4.21). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the scale’s unidimensional structure and sex invariance. Positive correlations with self-esteem, well-being, flourishing and body-esteem measures and negative correlations with maladaptive perfectionism, perfectionism and self-reported BMI were identified providing support for the scale’s convergent validity. Excellent internal consistency (α = .96) was demonstrated. Consistent with previous research, men in Ireland reported significantly higher body appreciation than women. Body appreciation scores of the current sample were compared with international data scores from participants in the US, China, Poland, France, Canada and Iran.
The PERMA framework (Seligman 2011) presents five building blocks of well-being: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. However, Seligman (2018) suggested the original five building blocks are highly predictive of well-being but certainly not exhaustive. This research attempted to expand the PERMA model in the workplace with four new building blocks of well-being: physical health, mindset, environment, and economic security. Study 1 utilized nine subject matter experts (SMEs) to content analyze and evaluate an item pool for scale development. In Study 2 (N = 300), an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) extrapolated nine dimensions of positive functioning at work (PF-W) with a random sample of full-time employees recruited on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). The purpose of Study 3 was to validate the PF-W scale and test its ability to predict work outcomes. Findings from 727 full-time employees supported a general factor of PF-W with nine lower-order dimensions. The measure exhibited convergent, discriminant, criterion, predictive, and incremental forms of validity with other well-being (Diener 1985; Luthans, Youssef and Avolio 2007) and performance measures (Griffin, Neal and Parker 2007), as well as measurement invariance across job function. The Positive Functioning at Work Scale provides a comprehensive measurement tool that can inform future workplace programs and interventions. It also predicts important work outcomes, such as turnover intentions, job-related affective well-being, plus individual, team, and organizational adaptivity, proactivity, and organizational proficiency.
