IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/chinre/v14y2021i5d10.1007_s12187-021-09825-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysing Comparability of Four Multi-Item Well-being Psychometric Scales Among 35 Countries Using Children’s Worlds 3rd Wave 10 and 12-year-olds Samples

Author

Listed:
  • Ferran Casas

    (Research Institute On Quality of Life, University of Girona
    Universidad Andrés Bello)

  • Mònica González-Carrasco

    (Research Institute On Quality of Life, University of Girona)

Abstract

The third Wave Children’s Worlds dataset included data obtained from four self-reported well-being multi-item psychometric scales. Three of these were new improved versions of scales used in the second wave and the fourth had not been previously tested for reliability or comparability. The four scales were administered to children in the 10-year-olds age group in 35 countries and in the 12-year-olds age group in 30 countries. Many of these countries were not involved in the second wave. Consequently, the fit for all of these scales needs to be checked and its comparability among the new set of countries analysed. Based on our analysis, there can be no doubt that the most advisable psychometric scale for use in international comparisons is the 5-item version of the context-free subjective well-being scale for both the 10 and 12yo groups, because it displays metric invariance. Scalar invariance for this scale is only supported with a semi-partial constraint, because its item number 4 (Things in my life are excellent) seems to be very sensitive to the socio-economic level of the country, and generally tends to explain less variance than any other. Therefore, great caution must be used when comparing mean scores for this scale across countries. Items on the other three scales would appear to have different cultural meanings, depending on the country, as they do not display metric or scalar invariance across countries. However, the positive and negative affects scale deserves special attention, because the in-country correlation between its two components displays an interesting diversity between countries, probably due to cultural factors that should be further explored. Although statistics obtained using the overall index for any of these three scales cannot be meaningfully compared across countries, their fit is excellent and their use is deemed appropriate for in-country analysis. Further exploration is needed to test whether non-comparability is an issue with only some specific items, and whether they are comparable between some of the countries and not others.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferran Casas & Mònica González-Carrasco, 2021. "Analysing Comparability of Four Multi-Item Well-being Psychometric Scales Among 35 Countries Using Children’s Worlds 3rd Wave 10 and 12-year-olds Samples," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(5), pages 1829-1861, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:14:y:2021:i:5:d:10.1007_s12187-021-09825-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s12187-021-09825-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12187-021-09825-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12187-021-09825-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julie Seligson & E. Huebner & Robert Valois, 2003. "Preliminary Validation of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 121-145, February.
    2. Sarstedt, Marko & Diamantopoulos, Adamantios & Salzberger, Thomas, 2016. "Should we use single items? Better not," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 3199-3203.
    3. Robert Cummins & Helen Nistico, 2002. "Maintaining Life Satisfaction: The Role of Positive Cognitive Bias," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 37-69, March.
    4. Marne Arthaud-day & Joseph Rode & Christine Mooney & Janet Near, 2005. "The Subjective Well-being Construct: A Test of its Convergent, Discriminant, and Factorial Validity," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 74(3), pages 445-476, December.
    5. Ferran Casas, 2017. "Analysing the Comparability of 3 Multi-Item Subjective Well-Being Psychometric Scales Among 15 Countries Using Samples of 10 and 12-Year-Olds," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 10(2), pages 297-330, June.
    6. Robert Cummins, 1998. "The Second Approximation to an International Standard for Life Satisfaction," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 307-334, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ferran Casas & Mònica González-Carrasco & Xavier Oriol & Sara Malo, 2022. "Economic and Children’s Subjective Well-Being Indicators at the National Level in 35 Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(5), pages 1539-1563, October.
    2. Aline Lopes Moreira & Jorge Castellá Sarriera & Leonardo Fernandes Martins & Lívia Maria Bedin & Maria Angela Mattar Yunes & Luciana Cassarino Perez & Murilo Ricardo Zibetti, 2022. "Psychometric Properties of Children’s Subjective Well-Being Scales: a Multigroup Study Investigating School Type, Gender, Age and Region of Children in the South and Southeast Regions of Brazil," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(2), pages 657-679, April.
    3. Mònica González-Carrasco & Lívia Bedin & Ferran Casas & Jaime Alfaro & Jorge Castellá Sarriera, 2023. "Safety, Perceptions of Good Treatment and Subjective Well-Being in 10- and 12-year-old Children in Three Countries," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(3), pages 1521-1544, June.
    4. Jose Marquez & Louise Lambert & Megan Cutts, 2023. "Geographic, Socio-Demographic and School Type Variation in Adolescent Wellbeing and Mental Health and Links with Academic Competence in the United Arab Emirates," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(2), pages 797-836, April.
    5. Ihsana Sabriani Borualogo & Ferran Casas, 2023. "Bullying Victimisation and Children’s Subjective Well-being: A Comparative Study in Seven Asian Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(1), pages 1-27, February.
    6. Ditzel, Loreto & Casas, Ferran & Torres-Vallejos, Javier & Reyes, Fernando & Alfaro, Jaime, 2022. "Children participating in after-school programs in Chile: Subjective well-being, satisfaction with free time use and satisfaction with the program," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    7. Son, Woo-Jung & Bae, Sung-Man, 2022. "The relationship between human rights, negative affect, bullying victimization, and life satisfaction among Korean adolescents: A national sample study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    8. Rodrigo Moreta-Herrera & Xavier Oriol-Granado & Mònica González-Carrasco & Diego Vaca-Quintana, 2023. "Examining the Relationship between Subjective Well-being and Psychological Well-being among 12-Year-Old-Children from 30 Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(5), pages 1851-1870, October.
    9. Veljko Jovanović & Maksim Rudnev & Naved Iqbal & Sean P. M. Rice & Magdalena Żemojtel-Piotrowska, 2022. "Cross-Cultural Measurement of Positive and Negative Emotions in Adolescence: Evidence from Three Countries," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 3143-3160, October.
    10. Ihsana Sabriani Borualogo & Ferran Casas, 2023. "Sibling Bullying, School Bullying, and Children’s Subjective Well-Being Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(3), pages 1203-1232, June.
    11. Ana Blasco-Belled & Mònica González-Carrasco & Ferran Casas, 2023. "Filling the 8-Year-Old Gap in the Study of Well-Being: Cross-Cultural Assessment and Validation of a Subjective Well-Being Measure Across 19 Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(3), pages 1363-1380, June.
    12. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Alexandra Sandu & Chris Taylor & Jennifer May Hampton, 2024. "Children’s Subjective Well-Being During the Coronavirus Pandemic," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(1), pages 309-347, February.
    13. Sergiu Bălțătescu & Tomasz Strózik & Kadri Soo & Dagmar Kutsar & Dorota Strózik & Claudia Bacter, 2023. "Subjective Well-being of Children Left Behind by Migrant Parents in Six European Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(5), pages 1941-1969, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ferran Casas, 2017. "Analysing the Comparability of 3 Multi-Item Subjective Well-Being Psychometric Scales Among 15 Countries Using Samples of 10 and 12-Year-Olds," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 10(2), pages 297-330, June.
    2. Loreto Ditzel & Ferran Casas & Javier Torres-Vallejos & Alejandra Villarroel, 2022. "The Subjective Well-Being of Chilean Children Living in Conditions of High Social Vulnerability," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 1639-1660, June.
    3. Ditzel, Loreto & Casas, Ferran & Torres-Vallejos, Javier & Reyes, Fernando & Alfaro, Jaime, 2022. "Children participating in after-school programs in Chile: Subjective well-being, satisfaction with free time use and satisfaction with the program," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    4. L. Migliorini & T. Tassara & N. Rania, 2019. "A Study of Subjective Well-Being and Life Satisfaction in Italy: how are Children doing at 8 years of Age?," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(1), pages 49-69, February.
    5. Lufanna Lai & Robert Cummins & Anna Lau, 2013. "Cross-Cultural Difference in Subjective Wellbeing: Cultural Response Bias as an Explanation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 607-619, November.
    6. Maria Aymerich & Ramon Cladellas & Antoni Castelló & Ferran Casas & Mònica Cunill, 2021. "The Evolution of Life Satisfaction Throughout Childhood and Adolescence: Differences in Young People’s Evaluations According to Age and Gender," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(6), pages 2347-2369, December.
    7. Chia-Huei Wu & Ying-Mei Tsai & Lung Chen, 2009. "How do Positive Views Maintain Life Satisfaction?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 91(2), pages 269-281, April.
    8. Noam Tarshish, 2020. "Children’s Multidimensional Subjective Well-Being in OECD and Non-OECD Countries: Is Cross-Country Comparison Possible?," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(1), pages 51-66, February.
    9. Aquiles R. Pérez Delgado, 2019. "Adolescents Satisfaction with Life in Venezuela," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 757-775, July.
    10. Gareth Davey & Ricardo Rato, 2012. "Subjective Wellbeing in China: A Review," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 333-346, April.
    11. Loraine Lavallee & P. Hatch & Alex Michalos & Tara McKinley, 2007. "Development of the Contentment with Life Assessment Scale (CLAS): Using Daily Life Experiences to Verify Levels of Self-Reported Life Satisfaction," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 83(2), pages 201-244, September.
    12. Nele Van Hecke & Claudia Claes & Wouter Vanderplasschen & Jessica De Maeyer & Nico De Witte & Stijn Vandevelde, 2018. "Conceptualisation and Measurement of Quality of Life Based on Schalock and Verdugo’s Model: A Cross-Disciplinary Review of the Literature," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 335-351, May.
    13. Mònica González-Carrasco & Ferran Casas & Asher Ben-Arieh & Shazly Savahl & Habib Tiliouine, 2019. "Children’s Perspectives and Evaluations of Safety in Diverse Settings and Their Subjective Well-Being: A Multi-National Approach," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(2), pages 309-334, April.
    14. Ingrid Nielsen & Olga Paritski & Russell Smyth, 2010. "Subjective Well-Being of Beijing Taxi Drivers," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 11(6), pages 721-733, December.
    15. Lufanna Lai & Robert Cummins, 2013. "The Contribution of Job and Partner Satisfaction to the Homeostatic Defense of Subjective Wellbeing," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 203-217, March.
    16. Ingrid Nielsen & Sen Sendjaya, 2014. "Wellbeing Among Indonesian Labour Migrants to Malaysia: Implications of the 2011 Memorandum of Understanding," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 919-938, July.
    17. Jose Marquez & Joanna Inchley & Emily Long, 2022. "Cross-Country and Gender Differences in Factors Associated with Population-Level Declines in Adolescent Life Satisfaction," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(4), pages 1405-1428, August.
    18. R. M. Tomlinson & L. Keyfitz & J. S. Rawana & M. N. Lumley, 2017. "Unique Contributions of Positive Schemas for Understanding Child and Adolescent Life Satisfaction and Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(5), pages 1255-1274, October.
    19. Ingrid Nielsen & Russell Smyth & Qingguo Zhai, 2010. "Subjective Well-Being of China’s Off-Farm Migrants," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 315-333, June.
    20. Adrian Tomyn & Melissa Weinberg & Robert Cummins, 2015. "Intervention Efficacy Among ‘At Risk’ Adolescents: A Test of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis Theory," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 120(3), pages 883-895, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:14:y:2021:i:5:d:10.1007_s12187-021-09825-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.