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Factor Structure and Reliability of an Abbreviated Version of the Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale

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Abstract

This study examined the internal consistency reliability and factor structure of an abbreviated version of the Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS: Huebner, Psychological Assessment, 6, 149–158, 1994), which measures the life satisfaction of youth in five domains: family, friends, school, self, and living environment. A total of 10 negatively-worded items were excluded from the original 40-item MSLSS. The data were obtained from a sample of 844 middle school students in a Southeastern US state. The analyses revealed acceptable reliability coefficients across the five domains (range = 0.71–0.91). Using confirmatory factor analysis procedures, the correlated factors model also suggested acceptable fit across several indices. Pending further research, the abbreviated 30-item version of the MSLSS provides a promising alternative to the original MSLSS when brevity of measurement is a consideration.

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Author note

The authors thank Patrick Malone for his assistance in data analysis.

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Correspondence to E. Scott Huebner.

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Huebner, E.S., Zullig, K.J. & Saha, R. Factor Structure and Reliability of an Abbreviated Version of the Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale. Child Ind Res 5, 651–657 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-012-9140-z

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