Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Theory and Validity of Life Satisfaction Scales

  • Published:
Social Indicators Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

National accounts of subjective well-being are being considered and adopted by nations. In order to be useful for policy deliberations, the measures of life satisfaction must be psychometrically sound. The reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change of life satisfaction measures are reviewed. The scales are stable under unchanging conditions, but are sensitive to changes in circumstances in people’s lives. Several types of data indicate that the scales validly reflect the quality of respondents’ lives: (1) Differences between nations in life satisfaction associated with differences in objective conditions, (2) Differences between groups who live in different circumstances, (3) Correlations with nonself-report measures of life satisfaction, (4) Genetic and physiological associations with life satisfaction, (5) Systematic patterns of change in the scales before, during, and after significant life events, and (6) Prediction by life satisfaction scores of future behaviors such as suicide. The life satisfaction scales can be influenced by factors such as question order, current mood, and mode of presentation, but in most cases these can be controlled. Our model of life satisfaction judgments points to the importance of attention, values, standards, and top-down effects. Although the scales are useful in research on individual well-being, there are policy questions that need more analysis and research, such as which types of subjective well-being measures are most relevant to which types of policies, how standards influence scores, and how best to associate the scores with current policy deliberations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agrawal, S., & Harter, J. K. (2011). Context effects on life evaluation items: Forming new estimates for data prior to January 6, 2009. Washington, DC: Gallup Technical Report.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson, T. (1982). The stability and validity of quality of life measures. Social Indicators Research, 10, 113–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, L. M., Wilson, F. L., & Winebarger, A. (2004). An exploratory study of the health problems, stigmatization, life satisfaction, and literacy skills of urban, street-level sex workers. Women and Health, 39, 83–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becchetti, L., Castriota, S., & Giachin, E. (2011). Beyond the joneses: Inter-country income comparisons and happiness. Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, Working Paper 189.

  • Biswas-Diener, R., & Diener, E. (2006). The subjective well-being of the homeless, and lessons for happiness. Social Indicators Research, 76, 185–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanchflower, D. G., & Oswald, A. J. (2012). Antidepressants and age in 27 European countries: Evidence of a U-shape in human well-being through life. Unpublished paper, Dartmouth College.

  • Brief, A. P., Butcher, A. H., George, J. M., & Link, K. E. (1993). Integrating bottom-up and top-down theories of subjective well-being: The case of health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 646–653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryant, R. A., Marosszeky, J. E., Crooks, J., Baguley, I. J., & Gurka, J. A. (2001). Posttraumatic stress disorder and psychosocial functioning after severe traumatic brain injury. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 189, 109–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, E. C., & Sanna, L. J. (2001). Optimism, pessimism, and positive and negative affectivity in middle-aged adults: A test of a cognitive-affective model of psychological adjustment. Psychology and Aging, 16, 524–531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A. E., Diener, E., Georgellis, Y., & Lucas, R. E. (2008). Lags and leads in life satisfaction: A test of the baseline hypothesis. The Economic Journal, 118, F222–F243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deaton, A. (2011). The financial crisis and the well-being of America. Unpublished manuscript, Princeton University.

  • DeNeve, J. E. (2011). Functional polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) in the serotonin transporter gene is associated with subjective well-being: Evidence from a US nationally representative sample. Journal of Human Genetics, 56, 456–459.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denissen, J. J. A., Butalid, L., Penke, L., & van Aken, M. A. G. (2008). The effects of weather on daily mood: A multilevel approach. Emotion, 8, 662–667.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dermer, M., Cohen, S. J., Jacobsen, E., & Anderson, E. A. (1979). Evaluative judgments of aspects of life as a function of vicarious exposure to hedonic extremes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 247–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Tella, R., Haisken-De New, J., & MacCulloch, R. (2005). Happiness adaptation to income and to status in an individual panel. NBER working paper no. 13159.

  • Diener, E. (2009). Culture and well-being: The collected works of Ed Diener. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., & Chan, M. Y. (2011). Happy people live longer: Subjective well-being contributes to health and longevity. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 3, 1–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., & Diener, M. (1995). Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 653–663.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Diener, M., & Diener, C. (1995). Factors predicting the subjective well-being of nations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 851–864.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985a). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Horwitz, J., & Emmons, R. A. (1985b). Happiness of the very wealthy. Social Indicators Research, 16, 263–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Kahneman, D., Tov, W., & Arora, R. (2010a). Income’s association with judgments of life versus feelings. In E. Diener, J. Helliwell, & D. Kahneman (Eds.), International differences in well-being (pp. 3–15). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., & Larsen, R. J. (1984). Temporal stability and cross-situational consistency of affective, behavioral, and cognitive responses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 871–883.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Lucas, R. E., Oishi, S., & Eunkook, S. M. (2002). Looking up and down: Weighting good and bad information in life satisfaction judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 437–445.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Lucas, R., Schimmack, U., & Helliwell, J. (2009). Well-being for public policy. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Ng, W., Harter, J., & Arora, R. (2010b). Wealth and happiness across the world: Material prosperity predicts life evaluation, while psychosocial prosperity predicts positive feeling. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 143–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Scollon, C. K., Oishi, S., Dzokoto, V., & Suh, E. M. (2000). Positivity and the construction of life satisfaction judgments: Global happiness is not the sum of its parts. Journal of Happiness Studies: An Interdisciplinary Periodical on Subjective Well-Being, 1, 159–176.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Tay, L., & Myers, D. G. (2011). The religion paradox: If religion makes people happy, why are so many dropping out? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 1278–1290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Tay, L., & Oishi, S. (2012). Easterlin was wrong and right: Income and psychosocial changes, and the changing happiness of nations. Manuscript submitted for publication, University of Illinois.

  • DiTella, R., MacCulloch, R., & Oswald, A. (1997). The macroeconomics of happiness. CEP Working Paper 19.

  • Dolan, P., & White, M. P. (2007). How can measures of subjective well-being be used to inform public policy. Perspective on Psychological Science, 2, 171–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Economist Intelligence Unit. (2004). The economist intelligence unit’s quality-of-life index. Retrieved from November 17, 2012 from http://www.economist.com/media.

  • Eid, M. (2008). Measuring the immeasurable: Psychometric modeling of subjective well-being data. In M. Eid & R. J. Larsen (Eds.), The science of subjective well-being. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eid, M., & Diener, E. (2004). Global judgments of subjective well-being: Situational variability and long-term stability. Social Indicators Research, 65, 245–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eid, M., & Zuckar, M. (2007). Detecting response styles and faking in personality and organizational assessments by Mixed Rasch Models. In M. von Davier & C. H. Carstensen (Eds.), Multivariate and mixture distribution Rasch models (pp. 255–270). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrer-i-Carbonell, P., & Frijters, P. (2004). How important is methodology for the estimates of the determinants of happiness? Economic Journal, 114, 641–659.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frey, B., & Stutzer, A. (2000). Happiness, economy, and institutions. Economic Journal, 110, 118–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frisch, M. B., Clark, M. P., Rouse, S. V., Rudd, M. D., Paweleck, J., Greenstone, A., et al. (2005). Predictive and treatment validity of life satisfaction and the Quality of Life Inventory. Assessment, 12, 66–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frisch, M. B., Cornell, J., Villanueva, M., & Retzlaff, P. (1992). Clinical validation of the Quality of Life Inventory: A measure of life satisfaction for use in treatment planning and outcome assessment. Psychological Assessment, 4, 92–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fujita, F., & Diener, E. (2005). Life satisfaction set point: Stability and change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 158–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fulmer, A., Gelfand, M. J., Kruglanski, A., Kim-Prieto, C., Diener, E., Pierro, A., et al. (2010). On “feeling right” in cultural contexts: How person-culture match affects self-esteem and subjective well-being. Psychological Science, 21, 1563–1569.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham, C. (2009). Happiness around the world: The paradox of happy peasants and miserable millionaires. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagerty, M., & Veenhoven, R. (2003). Wealth and happiness revisited—Growing national income does go with greater happiness. Social Indicators Research, 64, 1–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hedges, L. V. (1987). How hard is hard science, how soft is soft science? American Psychologist, 42, 443–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helliwell, J. F. (2007). Well-being and social capital: Does suicide pose a puzzle? Social Indicators Research, 81, 455–496.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsee, C. K., & Zhang, J. (2010). General evaluability theory. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5, 343–355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R. (1990). Culture shift in advanced industrial societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R. (1997). Modernization and postmodernization: Cultural, economic and political change in 43 societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R., & Klingemann, H. D. (2000). Genes, culture, democracy and happiness. In E. Diener & E. Suh (Eds.), Subjective well-being across cultures (pp. 165–183). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R., & Welzel, C. (2005). Modernization, cultural change, and democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R., & Welzel, C. (2010). Changing mass priorities: The link between modernization and democracy. Perspectives on Politics, 8, 551–567.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joy, R. H. (1990). Path analytic investigation of stress-symptom relationships: Physical and psychological symptom models. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

  • King, D. A., & Buchwald, A. M. (1982). Sex differences in subclinical depression: Administration of the Beck Depression Inventory in public and private disclosure situations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 963–996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koivumaa-Honkanen, H., Honkanen, R., Viinamaeki, H., Heikkilae, K., Kaprio, J., & Koskenvuo, M. (2001). Life satisfaction and suicide: A 20-year follow-up study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 433–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, A. B., & Schkade, D. (2008). The reliability of subjective well-being measures. Journal of Public Economics, 92, 1833–1845.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuppens, P., Realo, A., & Diener, E. (2008). The role of positive and negative emotions in life satisfaction judgments across nations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 66–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawless, N. M., & Lucas, R. E. (2011). Prediction of regional well-being: A county level analysis. Social Indicators Research, 101, 341–357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E. (2007). Long-term disability is associated with lasting changes in subjective well-being: Evidence from two nationally representative longitudinal studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 717–730.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., & Clark, A. E. (2006). Do people really adapt to marriage? Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 405–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., Clark, A. E., Georgellis, Y., & Diener, E. (2003). Reexamining adaptation and the set point model of happiness: Reactions to changes in marital status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 527–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., Clark, A. E., Georgellis, Y., & Diener, E. (2004). Unemployment alters the set-point for life satisfaction. Psychological Science, 15, 8–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., Diener, E., & Suh, E. (1996). Discriminant validity of well-being measures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 616–628.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., & Donnellan, M. B. (2007). How stable is happiness? Using the STARTS model to estimate the stability of life satisfaction. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 1091–1098.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., & Donnellan, M. B. (2011). Estimating the reliability of single-item life satisfaction measures: Results from four national panel studies. Social Indicators Research, 105, 323–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. E., & Lawless, N. M. (2011). Weather conditions are unrelated to life satisfaction judgments: Evidence from a large representative sample in the U.S. Manuscript submitted for publication, Michigan State University.

  • Luechinger, S. (2009). Valuing air quality using the life satisfaction approach. Economic Journal, 119, 482–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, M., & Eid, M. (2009). Does it really feel the same? Changes in life satisfaction following repeated life events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 363–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, M., Hawkley, L. C., Eid, M., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2012). Time frames and the distinction between affective and cognitive well-being. Journal of Research in Personality (in press).

  • Luhmann, M., Hoffmann, W., Eid, M., & Lucas, R. E. (2012). Subjective well-being and adaptation to life events: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(3), 592–615.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, M., Lucas, R. E., Eid, M., & Diener, E. (2012). The prospective effect of life satisfaction on life events. Social Psychological and Personality Science. doi:10.1177/1948550612440105 (advanced online publication).

  • Lykken, D., & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological Science, 7, 186–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michalos, A. C. (1985). Multiple discrepancies theory (MDT). Social Indicators Research, 16, 347–413.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michalos, A. C., & Kahlke, P. M. (2010). Stability and sensitivity in perceived quality of life measures: Some panel results. Social Indicators Research, 98, 403–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moum, T. (1996). Subjective well-being as a short- and long-term predictor of suicide in the general population. Paper presented at the world conference in quality of life, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, Canada. August 22–25.

  • Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. (2004). Sacred and secular: Religion and politics worldwide. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Oishi, S. (2006). The concept of life satisfaction across cultures: An IRT analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 411–423.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oishi, S. (2010). Culture and well-being: Conceptual and methodological issues. In E. Diener, D. Kahneman, & J. F. Helliwell (Eds.), International differences in well-being (pp. 34–69). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Oishi, S. (2012). The psychological wealth of nations: Do happy people make a happy society?. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Oishi, S., & Diener, E. (2001). Re-examining the general positivity model of subjective well-being: The discrepancy between specific and global domain satisfaction. Journal of Personality, 69, 641–666.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oishi, S., Diener, E., Choi, D. W., Kim-Prieto, C., & Choi, I. (2007). The dynamics of daily events and well-being across cultures: When less is more. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 685–698.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oishi, S., & Roth, D. P. (2009). The role of self-reports in culture and personality research: It is too early to give up on self-reports. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 107–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oishi, S., Schimmack, U., & Colcombe, S. J. (2003). The contextual and systematic nature of life satisfaction judgments. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 232–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oishi, S., & Sullivan, H. W. (2006). The predictive value of daily vs. retrospective well-being judgments in relationship stability. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 460–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oswald, A. J., & Wu, S. (2010). Objective confirmation of subjective measures of human well-being: Evidence of the U.S.A. Science, 327, 576–579.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993a). The affective and cognitive context of self-reported measures of subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 28, 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993b). Review of the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Psychological Assessment, 5, 164–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pavot, W., Diener, E., Colvin, C. R., & Sadvik, E. (1991). Further validation of the Satisfaction with Life Scale: Evidence for the cross-method convergence of well-being measures. Journal of Personality Assessment, 57, 149–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Redelmeier, D. A., Katz, J., & Kahneman, D. (2003). Memories of colonoscopy: A randomized trial. Pain, 104, 187–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, M. D. (2000). The reactive and prospective functions of mood: Its role in linking daily experiences and cognitive well-being. Cognition and Emotion, 14, 145–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigue, J. R., Baz, M. A., Widows, M. R., & Ehlers, S. L. (2005). A randomized evaluation of Quality of Life Therapy with patients awaiting lung transplantation. American Journal of Transplantation, 5, 2425–2432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigue, J. R., Widows, M. R., & Baz, M. A. (2006). Caregivers of lung transplant candidates: Do they benefit when the patient is receiving psychological services? Progress in Transplantation, 16, 336–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roysamb, E., Harris, J. R., Magnus, P., Vitterso, J., & Tambs, K. (2002). Subjective well-being: Sex-specific effects of genetic and environmental factors. Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 211–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandow, E. (2011). On the road: Social aspects of commuting long distances to work. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Umea University, Sweden.

  • Sandvik, E., Diener, E., & Seidlitz, L. (1993). Subjective well-being: The convergence and stability of self-report and non-self-report measures. Journal of Personality, 61, 317–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., Diener, E., & Oishi, S. (2002a). Life satisfaction is a momentary judgment and a stable personality characteristic: The use of chronically accessible and stable sources. Journal of Personality, 70, 345–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., Krause, P., Wagner, G. G., & Schupp, J. (2010). Stability and change of well being: An experimentally enhanced latent state-trait-error analysis. Social Indicators Research, 95, 19–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., & Oishi, S. (2005). The influence of chronically and temporarily accessible information on life satisfaction judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 395–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., Radhakrishnan, P., Oishi, S., Dzokoto, V., & Ahadi, S. (2002b). Culture, personality, and subjective well-being: Integrating process models of life satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 582–593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, L., & Schimmack, U. (2009). Self-informant agreement in well-being ratings: A meta-analysis. Social Indicators Research, 94, 363–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, N., & Clore, G. L. (1983). Mood, misattribution, and judgments of well-being: Informative and directive functions of affective states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 513–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, N., & Strack, F. (1999). Reports of subjective well-being: Judgmental processes and their methodological implications. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 61–84). New York: Russell-Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, N., Strack, F., Hippler, H. J., & Bishop, G. (1991). The impact of administration mode on response effects in survey measurement. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 5, 193–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, N., Strack, F., Kommer, D., & Wagner, D. (1987). Soccer, rooms, and the quality of your life: Mood effects on judgments of satisfaction with life in general and with specific domains. European Journal of Social Psychology, 17, 69–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scogin, F., Morthland, M., Kaufman, A., Burgio, L., Chaplin, W., & Kong, G. (2007). Improving quality of life in diverse rural older adults: A randomized trial of a psychological treatment. Psychology and Aging, 22, 657–665.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scollon, C. N., Kim-Prieto, C., & Diener, E. (2003). Experience sampling: Promises and pitfalls, strengths and weaknesses. Journal of Happiness Studies, 4, 5–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seder, J. P., & Oishi, S. (in press). Intensity of smiling in Facebook photos predicts future life satisfaction. Social Psychological and Personality Science. doi:10.1177/1948550611424968 (advanced online publication).

  • Shirom, A., Toker, S., Melamed, S., Berliner, S., & Shapira, I. (2011). Life and job satisfaction as predictors of the incidence of diabetes. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 4, 31–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shlyakhter, A., Shlyakhter, I., Broido, C., & Wilson, R. (1993). Estimating uncertainty in physical measurements, observational and environmental studies: Lessons from trends in nuclear data. In: Proceedings from the second international symposium on uncertainty modeling and analysis (pp. 310–317). College Park, MA.

  • Slocum-Gori, S., Zumbo, B., Michalos, A., & Diener, E. (2009). A note on the dimensionality of quality of life scales: An illustration with the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Social Indicators Research, 92, 489–496.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, T. W. (1979). Happiness: Time trends, seasonal variations, intersurvey differences, and other mysteries. Social Psychology Quarterly, 42, 18–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. (2006). The Meaning in Life Questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 80–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steptoe, A., Wardle, J., Marmot, M., & McEwen, B. S. (2005). Positive affect and health-related neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and inflammatory processes. Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102, 6508–6512.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, S. (2008). Economic growth and subjective well-being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox. National Bureau of Economic Research, working paper, no. 14282, August.

  • Strack, F., Martin, L. L., & Schwarz, N. (1988). Priming and communication: Social determinants of information use in judgments of life satisfaction. European Journal of Social Psychology, 18, 429–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strack, F., Schwarz, N., Chassein, B., Kern, D., & Wagner, D. (1990). Salience of comparison standards and the activation of social norms: Consequences for judgments of happiness and their communication. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 303–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stubbe, J. H., Posthuma, D., Boomsma, D. I., & De Geus, E. J. C. (2005). Heritability of life satisfaction in adults: A twin-family study. Psychological Medicine, 35, 1581–1588.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sudman, S., Greely, A. M., & Pinto, L. J. (1967). The use of self-administered questionnaires. In S. Sudman (Ed.), Reducing the cost of surveys (pp. 46–57). Chicago: Aldine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suh, E. M. (2002). Culture, identity, consistency, and subjective well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1378–1391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suh, E. M., Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Triandis, H. (1998). The shifting basis of life satisfaction judgments across cultures: Emotions versus norms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 482–493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suh, E. M., Diener, E., & Updegraff, J. A. (2008). From culture to priming conditions: Self-construal influences on life satisfaction judgments. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39, 3–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tay, L., & Diener, E. (2011). Needs and subjective well-being around the world. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 354–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tay, L., & Diener, E. (2012). The strengths and weaknesses of the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM). Paper in preparation, University of Illinois.

  • Tay, L., Diener, E., Drasgow, F., & Vermunt, J. K. (2011). Multilevel mixed-measurement IRT analysis: An explication and application to self-reported emotions around the world. Organizational Research Methods, 14, 177–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urry, H. L., Nitschke, J. B., Dolski, I., Jackson, D. C., Dalton, K. M., Mueller, C. J., et al. (2004). Making a life worth living: Neural correlates of well-being. Psychological Science, 15, 367–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R. (2005). Apparent quality-of-life in nations: How long and happy people live. Social Indicators Research, 71, 61–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vitaliano, P. P., Russo, J., Young, H. M., Becker, J., & Maiuro, R. D. (1991). The screen for caregiver burden. The Gerontologist, 31, 76–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vitterso, J., Biswas-Diener, R., & Diener, E. (2005). The divergent meanings of life satisfaction: Item response modelling of the Satisfaction with Life Scale in Greenland and Norway. Social Indicators Research, 74, 327–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D. (2000). Mood and temperament. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Welzel, C. (2013, forthcoming). Breaking free: People power and the human quest for emancipation. New York: Cambridge University Press.

  • Wiest, M., Schuz, B., Webster, N., & Wurm, S. (2011). Subjective well-being and mortality revisited: Differential effects of cognitive and emotional facets of well-being on mortality. Health Psychology, 30, 728–735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wirtz, D., Kruger, J., Scollon, C. N., & Diener, E. (2003). What to do on spring break? The role of predicted, on-line and remembered experience in future choice. Psychological Science, 14, 520–524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yap, S. C. Y., Anusic, I., & Lucas,. R. E. (2011a). Does personality moderate the reaction and adaptation to major life events? Evidence from the British Household Panel Study. Michigan State University.

  • Yap, S. C. Y., Anusic, I., & Lucas, R. E. (2011b). Testing set-point theory in a Swiss national sample: Reaction and adaptation to major life events. Michigan State University.

  • Zou, C., Schimmack, U., & Gere, J. (2012). Towards an integrated theory of the nature and measurement of well-being: A multiple-indicator-multiple-rater model. Paper submitted for publication, University of Toronto Mississauga.

Download references

Acknowledgments

Our gratitude for helpful input on this paper is extended to: Richard Eckersley, Michael Eid, Michael Frisch, John Helliwell, Richard Lucas, Weiting Ng, Shige Oishi, William Pavot, Ulrich Schimmack, Christie Scollon, Joseph Sirgy, Robert Cummins, and William Tov.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, 603 E. Daniel Street, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA

    Ed Diener

  2. The Gallup Organization, Washington, DC, USA

    Ed Diener

  3. Higher School of Economics, Moscow and St. Petersburg, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Ronald Inglehart

  4. Psychological Sciences, 703 Third Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Louis Tay

Authors
  1. Ed Diener
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ronald Inglehart
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Louis Tay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ed Diener.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Diener, E., Inglehart, R. & Tay, L. Theory and Validity of Life Satisfaction Scales. Soc Indic Res 112, 497–527 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0076-y

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0076-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation