Introduction
Item | Question | Strongly disagree | Disagree | Disagree slightly | Neither agree nor disagree | Agree slightly | Agree | Strongly agree |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | In most ways my life is close to ideal | 2.1 | 6.2 | 6.6 | 12.6 | 24.1 | 37.4 | 11.0 |
2 | The conditions of my life are excellent | 1.4 | 3.2 | 4.1 | 7.8 | 16.7 | 46.5 | 20.2 |
3 | I am satisfied with my life | 1.1 | 2.9 | 4.8 | 5.9 | 14.9 | 48.1 | 22.5 |
4 | So far, I have gotten the important things I want in life | 1.6 | 4.2 | 6.1 | 9.5 | 22.6 | 40.2 | 15.8 |
5 | If I could live my life over, I would change nothing | 4.8 | 10.2 | 12.1 | 12.6 | 21.7 | 28.4 | 10.2 |
Method
Sample
Measures
Statistical methods
Study reference | Sample characteristics | Sample size | Gender | Age | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Author | Male | Female | Range | Average | ||
One-factor solution
| ||||||
Anaby et al. [9] | Israeli adults | 487 | 190 | 297 | 27–60 | |
Arrindel et al. [10] | Dutch young adults | 2,800 | 888 | 887 | 18–30 | |
Atienza et al. [25] | Spanish junior high students | 2,080 | 1,023 | 1,057 | ||
Balatsky and Diener [11] | Soviet students | 116 | 18.9 | |||
Blais et al. [22] | French-Canadian students | 871 | ||||
French-Canadian elderly | 313 | |||||
Durak et al. [23] | Turkish univ students, correctional officers and elderly adults (3 groups) | 547, 166 and 123 | 20.7, 37.2, 68.2 | |||
Lewis et al. [12] | Czech university students | 109 | 38 | 71 | 23.0 | |
Oishi [15] | Chinese and American students | 556 chinese; 442 American | ||||
Pons et al. [26] | Spanish junior high students | 266 | 65 | 65 | 11–15 | |
Spanish elderly | 68 | 65 | 60–91 | |||
Shevlin et al. [21] | Undergraduates | 258 | 173 | 85 | 18–57 | 20.6 (m) versus 22.9 (f) |
Swami and Chamorro-Premuzic [41] | Malay community sample | 816 | ||||
Vaultier et al. [34] | Group 1 Successive item presentation | 494 | 233 | 261 | 47.7 | |
Group 2 Scattered item presentation | 795 | 334 | 461 | 37.1 | ||
Not one-factor solution (Modified 1- or 2-factor models) | ||||||
Clench-Aas et al. (this study) | Community sample | 4,984 | 2,369 | 2,615 | 16–79 | 46.2 (M); 44.1(F) |
Gouveia et al. [13] | Five groups, high school students, teachers undergraduate students, physicians, general population | 2,180 (306–797) | (21–43) | |||
Hultell and Gustavsson [14] | Swedish student teachers | 2,900 | 453 | 2,447 | 28.9 | |
Sachs [19] | Hong Kong University students | 123 | 43 | 80 | 32 | |
Slocum-Gori et al. [17] | Canadian (BC) adults | 410 | 239 | 166 | 18–90 | 46.9 |
Wu and Yao [18] | University students | 476 | 207 | 269 |
Results
Descriptives
Dimensionality
Entire sample | Gender | Age groups (years) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Males | Females | 16–24 | 25–44 | 45–64 | 65+ | ||
N | 4,984 | 2,369 | 2,615 | 623 | 1,838 | 1,843 | 680 |
Mean* | 26.20 | 26.17 | 26.23 | 26.76 | 26.29 | 25.93 | 27.12 |
Item 1 | 0.88 | 0.88 | 0.88 | 0.85 | 0.89 | 0.87 | 0.86 |
Item 2 | 0.83 | 0.82 | 0.84 | 0.72 | 0.83 | 0.85 | 0.90 |
Item 3 | 0.87 | 0.87 | 0.87 | 0.87 | 0.88 | 0.88 | 0.85 |
Item 4 | 0.78 | 0.78 | 0.78 | 0.67 | 0.79 | 0.82 | 0.79 |
Item 5 | 0.71 | 0.70 | 0.73 | 0.66 | 0.72 | 0.73 | 0.68 |
χ2(df) | 89.4 (4) | 35.3 (4) | 61.4 (4) | 16.6 (4) | 18.5 (4) | 72.7 (4) | 49.3 (4) |
CFI | 0.995 | 0.996 | 0.993 | 0.992 | 0.998 | 0.990 | 0.981 |
RMSEA | 0.065 | 0.057 | 0.074 | 0.071 | 0.044 | 0.097 | 0.129 |
ML (SE) | Bayesian analysis (SE) | ADF (SE) | Normalized data ML (SE) | Bootstrappingc ML (SE) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
λ11a
| 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 |
λ21 | 0.859 (0.011)* | 0.859 (0.011) | 0.843 (0.014)* | 0.921 (0.013)* | 0.859 (0.015)* |
λ31 | 0.881 (0.011)* | 0.881 (0.011) | 0.871 (0.014)* | 0.957 (0.012)* | 0.881 (0.014)* |
λ41 | 0.850 (0.013)* | 0.850 (0.013) | 0.849 (0.016)* | 0.882 (0.013)* | 0.850 (0.016)* |
λ51 | 0.948 (0.016)* | 0.969 (0.016) | 0.951 (0.017)* | 0.844 (0.014)* | 0.949 (0.016)* |
τ1 | 2.935 (0.02)* | 2.934 (0.020) | – | −0.017 (0.013) | 2.936 (0.02)* |
τ2 | 2.443 (0.019)* | 2.443 (0.018) | – | −0.025 (0.013)* | 2.443 (0.018)* |
τ3 | 2.355 (0.018)* | 2.354 (0.018) | – | −0.026 (0.013)* | 2.355 (0.018)* |
τ4 | 2.688 (0.02)* | 2.687 (0.019) | – | −0.021 (0.013) | 2.689 (0.019)* |
τ5 | 3.377 (0.024)* | 3.376 (0.024) | – | −0.011 (0.013) | 3.378 (0.024)* |
θ1 | 0.486 (0.014)* | 0.486 (0.015) | 0.450 (0.019)* | 0.204 (0.006)* | 0.486 (0.021)* |
θ2 | 0.530 (0.014)* | 0.530 (0.014) | 0.533 (0.021)* | 0.255 (0.007)* | 0.530 (0.022)* |
θ3 | 0.392 (0.011)* | 0.393 (0.012) | 0.386 (0.018)* | 0.201 (0.006)* | 0.391 (0.019)* |
θ4 | 0.759 (0.018)* | 0.760 (0.018) | 0.753 (0.028)* | 0.333 (0.008)* | 0.757 (0.028)* |
θ5 | 1.396 (0.031)* | 1.400 (0.032) | 1.362 (0.042)* | 0.404 (0.009)* | 1.395 (0.043)* |
cov45 | 0.195 (0.018)* | 0.195 (0.017) | 0.174 (0.023)* | 0.071 (0.006)* | 0.195 (0.023)* |
α | 1.608 (0.042)* | 1.610 (0.042) | 1.610 (0.045)* | 0.650 (0.017)* | 1.607 (0.045)* |
Chi2 (df)b
| 89.4 (4)* | – | 44.4 (4)* | 64.3 (4)* | 97.5 (0.611) (df = 4)d
|
CFI | 0.995 | – | 0.978 | 0.996 | |
RMSEA | 0.065 | – | 0.048 | 0.055 | |
PRatio | 0.400 | – | 0.400 | 0.267 | |
PNFI | 0.398 | – | 0.390 | 0.266 |
Measurement invariance
Gender
Parameter | Baseline | Weak | Strong | Strict | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | |
λ11 | 1.00 | 1.00a | 1.00 | 1.00a | 1.00 | 1.00a | 1.00 | 1.00a |
λ21 | 0.87 | 0.85 | 0.86 | 0.86b | 0.86 | 0.86b | 0.86 | 0.86b |
λ31 | 0.90 | 0.87 | 0.88 | 0.88b | 0.88 | 0.88b | 0.88 | 0.88b |
λ41 | 0.88 | 0.83 | 0.85 | 0.85b | 0.85 | 0.85b | 0.85 | 0.85b |
λ51 | 0.97 | 0.93 | 0.95 | 0.95b | 0.95 | 0.95b | 0.96 | 0.96b |
τ1 | 2.91 | 2.96 | 2.91 | 2.96 | 2.93 | 2.93b | 2.93 | 2.93b |
τ2 | 2.43 | 2.46 | 2.43 | 2.46 | 2.44 | 2.44b | 2.44 | 2.44b |
τ3 | 2.34 | 2.37 | 2.34 | 2.37 | 2.35 | 2.35b | 2.35 | 2.35b |
τ4 | 2.72 | 2.66 | 2.72 | 2.66 | 2.69 | 2.69b | 2.69 | 2.69b |
τ5 | 3.43 | 3.33 | 3.43 | 3.33 | 3.37 | 3.37b | 3.38 | 3.38b |
θ1 | 0.45 | 0.51 | 0.44 | 0.52 | 0.44 | 0.52 | 0.49 | 0.49b |
θ2 | 0.53 | 0.53 | 0.53 | 0.53 | 0.53 | 0.53 | 0.53 | 0.53b |
θ3 | 0.38 | 0.40 | 0.38 | 0.40 | 0.38 | 0.40 | 0.39 | 0.39b |
θ4 | 0.72 | 0.79 | 0.72 | 0.78 | 0.73 | 0.79 | 0.76 | 0.76b |
θ5 | 1.47 | 1.32 | 1.47 | 1.32 | 1.47 | 1.33 | 1.40 | 1.40b |
cov45 | 0.20 | 0.19 | 0.20 | 0.18 | 0.21 | 0.18 | 0.20 | 0.19 |
α | 1.48 | 1.73 | 1.51 | 1.69 | 1.51 | 1.69 | 1.51 | 1.70 |
Chi2 (df) | 96.7 (8) | 101.1 (12) | 125.5 (17) | 145.0 (22) | ||||
Δchi2 (Δdf) | – | 4.4 (4) | 24.4 (5)* | 19.5 (5)* | ||||
CFI | 0.995 | 0.995 | 0.993 | 0.992 | ||||
RMSEA | 0.047 | 0.039 | 0.036 | 0.034 |
Age groups
Para-meter | Baseline | Weak | Strong | Strict | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16–24 | 25–44 | 45–64 | 65+ | 16–24 | 25–44 | 45–64 | 65+ | 16–24 | 25–44 | 45–64 | 65+ | 16–24 | 25–44 | 45–64 | 65+ | |
λ11 | 1.00 | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a | 1.00a |
λ21 | 0.65 | 0.85 | 0.91 | 0.95 | 0.87 | 0.87b | 0.87b | 0.87b | 0.87 | 0.87b | 0.87b | 0.87b | 0.87 | 0.87b | 0.87b | 0.87b |
λ31 | 0.87 | 0.88 | 0.91 | 0.84 | 0.88 | 0.88b | 0.88b | 0.88b | 0.88 | 0.88b | 0.88b | 0.88b | 0.88 | 0.88b | 0.88b | 0.88b |
λ41 | 0.81 | 0.87 | 0.85 | 0.85 | 0.85 | 0.85b | 0.85b | 0.85b | 0.85 | 0.85b | 0.85b | 0.85b | 0.85 | 0.85b | 0.85b | 0.85b |
λ51 | 0.88 | 0.97 | 0.94 | 0.94 | 0.95 | 0.95b | 0.95b | 0.95b | 0.95 | 0.95b | 0.95b | 0.95b | 0.95 | 0.95b | 0.95b | 0.95b |
τ1 | 3.07 | 2.90 | 2.99 | 2.75 | 3.07 | 2.90 | 2.99 | 2.75 | 2.93 | 2.93b | 2.93b | 2.93b | 2.93 | 2.93b | 2.93b | 2.93b |
τ2 | 2.33 | 2.41 | 2.54 | 2.37 | 2.33 | 2.41 | 2.54 | 2.37 | 2.44 | 2.44b | 2.44b | 2.44b | 2.44 | 2.44b | 2.44b | 2.44b |
τ3 | 2.26 | 2.34 | 2.45 | 2.24 | 2.26 | 2.34 | 2.45 | 2.24 | 2.35 | 2.35b | 2.35b | 2.35b | 2.35 | 2.35b | 2.35b | 2.35b |
τ4 | 3.12 | 2.68 | 2.64 | 2.44 | 3.12 | 2.68 | 2.54 | 2.44 | 2.65 | 2.65b | 2.65b | 2.65b | 2.68 | 2.68b | 2.68b | 2.68b |
τ5 | 3.46 | 3.36 | 3.45 | 3.08 | 3.46 | 3.38 | 3.45 | 3.08 | 3.38 | 3.38b | 3.38b | 3.38b | 3.39 | 3.39b | 3.39b | 3.39b |
θ1 | 0.46 | 0.46 | 0.52 | 0.48 | 0.48 | 0.48 | 0.51 | 0.48 | 0.48 | 0.48 | 0.51 | 0.48 | 0.49 | 0.49b | 0.49b | 0.49b |
θ2 | 0.66 | 0.53 | 0.53 | 0.29 | 0.65 | 0.53 | 0.54 | 0.33 | 0.67 | 0.53 | 0.54 | 0.33 | 0.53 | 0.53b | 0.53b | 0.53b |
θ3 | 0.45 | 0.37 | 0.39 | 0.36 | 0.46 | 0.36 | 0.40 | 0.35 | 0.49 | 0.36 | 0.40 | 0.35 | 0.39 | 0.39b | 0.39b | 0.39b |
θ4 | 1.29 | 0.71 | 0.60 | 0.60 | 1.31 | 0.72 | 0.59 | 0.58 | 1.53 | 0.72 | 0.60 | 0.59 | 0.76 | 0.76b | 0.76b | 0.76b |
θ5 | 1.67 | 1.40 | 1.31 | 1.42 | 1.66 | 1.41 | 1.30 | 1.39 | 1.67 | 1.41 | 1.30 | 1.42 | 1.42 | 1.42b | 1.42b | 1.42b |
cov45 | 0.16 | 0.15 | 0.20 | 0.31 | 0.17 | 0.16 | 0.19 | 0.29 | 0.21 | 0.16 | 0.19 | 0.31 | 0.04 | 0.17 | 0.29 | 0.38 |
α | 1.64 | 1.58 | 1.69 | 1.39 | 1.43 | 1.60 | 1.74 | 1.42 | 1.43 | 1.57 | 1.75 | 1.45 | 1.55 | 1.55 | 1.76 | 1.41 |
Chi2 (df) | 163.7 (18) | 244.0 (30) | 453.3 (45) | 744.7 (59) | ||||||||||||
ΔChi2 (Δdf) | – | 80.3 (12)* | 209.3 (15)* | 291.3 (14)* | ||||||||||||
CFI | 0.991 | 0.987 | 0.976 | 0.959 | ||||||||||||
RMSEA | 0.040 | 0.038 | 0.043 | 0.048 |