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Measurement Invariance of the Day Reconstruction Method: Results from the COURAGE in Europe Project

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Abstract

Given the growing interest in the study of subjective well-being as a measure of social progress, instruments that produce valid and reliable scores and that can be used within and across countries are needed. The aim of the present study was to analyze the measurement equivalence of the Day Reconstruction Method in its brief version, using nationally representative samples from Finland, Poland, and Spain obtained within the COURAGE in Europe project. The goodness-of-fit of a two-correlated-factors model and the reliability of the scores obtained were assessed. Cross-country invariance was tested employing a multiple group confirmatory factor analysis, through sequential constraint imposition. In each country, measurement invariance was tested across time frames (morning, afternoon and evening) and days of the week (weekday and weekend). The results found support for the hypothesis of a two-correlated-factors (positive and negative affect) structure; the reliability of the positive, the negative and the net affect scores showed appropriate values. A high equivalence across the three national samples was found: all items except one showed strong measurement invariance indicating that respondents from Finland, Poland, and Spain attribute the same meaning to the latent construct under study, and the levels of the underlying items are equal in all three countries. Similar results were found for the measurement equivalence across time frames and days of the week. Our findings support the assumption of comparability across the different samples considered; in general, higher positive affect and lower negative affect were found in Finland, in the evening and at the weekend.

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Acknowledgments

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement Number 223071 (COURAGE in Europe), from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III-FIS research Grants Number PS09/00295 and PS09/01845, and from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation ACI-Promociona (ACI2009-1010). The study was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), and the AGES-CM Programme (AGES-S2010/BMD-2422). M.M. is grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for the postdoctoral fellowship (Reference No. FPDI-2013-15793). B.O. is grateful to the Sara Borrell postdoctoral programme (Reference No. CD12/00429) supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/Arzobispo Morcillo 4, 28029, Madrid, Spain

    Blanca Mellor-Marsá, Marta Miret, José Luis Ayuso-Mateos & Francisco Félix Caballero

  2. Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental. CIBERSAM, Madrid, Spain

    Blanca Mellor-Marsá, Marta Miret, Beatriz Olaya, Josep Maria Haro, José Luis Ayuso-Mateos & Francisco Félix Caballero

  3. Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Princesa (IIS-IP), Hospital Universitario de la Princesa, Madrid, Spain

    Blanca Mellor-Marsá, Marta Miret, José Luis Ayuso-Mateos & Francisco Félix Caballero

  4. Department of Social Psychology and Methodology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Francisco J. Abad

  5. Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

    Somnath Chatterji

  6. Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Beatriz Olaya & Josep Maria Haro

  7. Department of Medical Sociology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland

    Beata Tobiasz-Adamczyk

  8. National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    Seppo Koskinen

  9. Fondazione IRCCS, Neurological Institute Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy

    Matilde Leonardi

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  1. Blanca Mellor-Marsá
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  10. José Luis Ayuso-Mateos
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  11. Francisco Félix Caballero
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Correspondence to Francisco Félix Caballero.

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Mellor-Marsá, B., Miret, M., Abad, F.J. et al. Measurement Invariance of the Day Reconstruction Method: Results from the COURAGE in Europe Project. J Happiness Stud 17, 1769–1787 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9669-x

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