IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v124y2015i1p249-258.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Item Response Theory Analysis of the Subjective Happiness Scale

Author

Listed:
  • Brian O’Connor
  • Maxine Crawford
  • Mark Holder

Abstract

Item response theory analyses were conducted on Lyubomirsky and Lepper’s (Soc Indic Res 46:137–155, 1999 ) Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) in a sample of 1,037 undergraduates. In general, the SHS performed well. However, four, clear, previously unreported findings emerged that suggest modifications for improving the scale. The measure displayed weak discrimination power at the high, happy end of the latent trait continuum. The number of response options (seven) is excessive and unnecessary. One of the SHS items is problematic and provides minimal psychometric information relative to the other three items, apparently because of ambiguity in the wording of the item. And a three-item version of the SHS performed just as well as the original, four-item version. The implications of these findings for the usage and further development of the SHS are discussed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Brian O’Connor & Maxine Crawford & Mark Holder, 2015. "An Item Response Theory Analysis of the Subjective Happiness Scale," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 249-258, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:124:y:2015:i:1:p:249-258
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-014-0773-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11205-014-0773-9
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-014-0773-9?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. Rizopoulos, Dimitris, 2006. "ltm: An R Package for Latent Variable Modeling and Item Response Analysis," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 17(i05).
    2. Sonja Lyubomirsky & Heidi Lepper, 1999. "A Measure of Subjective Happiness: Preliminary Reliability and Construct Validation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 137-155, February.
    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. Shiri Cohen Kaminitz, 2018. "Happiness Studies and the Problem of Interpersonal Comparisons of Satisfaction: Two Histories, Three Approaches," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 423-442, February.
    2. Weiyun Chen & Miaolin Hua & Shouwen Yu & Xiaozan Wang & Dale Ulrich, 2017. "Association of Positive Psychological Wellbeing and BMI with Physical and Mental Health among College Students," Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, Biomedical Research Network+, LLC, vol. 1(4), pages 1089-1097, September.
    3. Albert Feliu-Soler & Javier de Diego-Adeliño & Juan V. Luciano & Ioseba Iraurgi & Carlo Alemany & Dolors Puigdemont & Víctor Pérez & Maria J. Portella & Joan Trujols, 2021. "Unhappy While Depressed: Examining the Dimensionality, Reliability and Validity of the Subjective Happiness Scale in a Spanish Sample of Patients with Depressive Disorders," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-13, October.
    4. Leanna M. Closson & Alicia M. McVarnock & Laura E. Cook, 2022. "Is there an Upside to Social Withdrawal? Considering Well-Being among Socially Withdrawn Emerging Adults," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 3131-3149, October.
    5. Fabrizio Maturo & Francesca Fortuna & Tonio Di Battista, 2019. "Testing Equality of Functions Across Multiple Experimental Conditions for Different Ability Levels in the IRT Context: The Case of the IPRASE TLT 2016 Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 146(1), pages 19-39, November.

    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. GOROVEI Alina-Alexandra, 2020. "Does Work Make You Happy? Job Satisfaction And Happiness In The Modern World," Revista Economica, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 72(1), pages 76-86, April.
    2. Leiv Gabrielsen & Pål Ulleberg & Reidulf Watten, 2012. "The Adolescent Life Goal Profile Scale: Development of a New Scale for Measurements of Life Goals Among Young People," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(6), pages 1053-1072, December.
    3. Zhang, Jing & Chen, Mingliang & Xie, Zhaohan & Zhuang, Jingyi, 2022. "Don't fall into exquisite poverty: The impact of mismatch between consumers and luxury brands on happiness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 298-309.
    4. Robert Weech-Maldonado & Michael J. Miller & Justin C. Lord, 2017. "The Relationships among Socio-Demographics, Perceived Health, and Happiness," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 12(2), pages 289-302, June.
    5. Torshizian, Eilya & Mehrara, Mohsen, 2011. "The effects of Economy, Values and Health on Happiness In Iran: the case of the Kish Island," MPRA Paper 30085, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Apr 2011.
    6. Nick Bailey, 2020. "Measuring Poverty Efficiently Using Adaptive Deprivation Scales," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 891-910, June.
    7. Dan K. Hsu & Johan Wiklund & Richard D. Cotton, 2017. "Success, Failure, and Entrepreneurial Reentry: An Experimental Assessment of the Veracity of Self–Efficacy and Prospect Theory," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 19-47, January.
    8. W. W. Koczkodaj & T. Kakiashvili & A. Szymańska & J. Montero-Marin & R. Araya & J. Garcia-Campayo & K. Rutkowski & D. Strzałka, 2017. "How to reduce the number of rating scale items without predictability loss?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(2), pages 581-593, May.
    9. Lotta Uusitalo-Malmivaara & Juhani Lehto, 2013. "Social Factors Explaining Children’s Subjective Happiness and Depressive Symptoms," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 603-615, April.
    10. Yang Yixin & Lü Xin & Ma Jian & Qiao Han, 2014. "A Robust Factor Analysis Model for Dichotomous Data," Journal of Systems Science and Information, De Gruyter, vol. 2(5), pages 437-450, October.
    11. Arulmani Thiyagarajan & Tyler G. James & Roy Rillera Marzo, 2022. "Psychometric properties of the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) among Malaysians during COVID-19: a methodological study," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-8, December.
    12. Brandon M. Turner & Hye Bin Rim & Nancy E. Betz & Thomas E. Nygren, 2012. "The Maximization Inventory," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 7(1), pages 48-60, January.
    13. Coupe, Tom & Obrizan, Maksym, 2016. "The impact of war on happiness: The case of Ukraine," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 132(PA), pages 228-242.
    14. Rogie Royce Carandang & Akira Shibanuma & Edward Asis & Dominga Carolina Chavez & Maria Teresa Tuliao & Masamine Jimba, 2020. "“Are Filipinos Aging Well?”: Determinants of Subjective Well-Being among Senior Citizens of the Community-Based ENGAGE Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-13, October.
    15. O. Kjell & D. Daukantaitė & K. Hefferon & S. Sikström, 2016. "The Harmony in Life Scale Complements the Satisfaction with Life Scale: Expanding the Conceptualization of the Cognitive Component of Subjective Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 126(2), pages 893-919, March.
    16. Joey Man Yee KWOK & Douglas Kei Shing NG, 2016. "A Study of the Perceived Stress Level of University Students in Hong Kong," International Journal of Psychological Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(4), pages 1-91, December.
    17. Jadie Allen & Mark Holder, 2014. "Marijuana Use and Well-Being in University Students," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 301-321, April.
    18. Lange, Florian & Dewitte, Siegfried, 2020. "Positive affect and pro-environmental behavior: A preregistered experiment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    19. Alison Pritchard & Miles Richardson & David Sheffield & Kirsten McEwan, 2020. "The Relationship Between Nature Connectedness and Eudaimonic Well-Being: A Meta-analysis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 1145-1167, March.
    20. Frick, Hannah & Strobl, Carolin & Leisch, Friedrich & Zeileis, Achim, 2012. "Flexible Rasch Mixture Models with Package psychomix," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i07).

    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:soinre:v:124:y:2015:i:1:p:249-258. 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.