Psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Life Scale in a Cypriot student sample

Abstract

Subjective well-being has been researched across multiple studies to identify how different people define happiness and satisfaction in their lives.  Life satisfaction, a key component of subjective well-being, has been used on its own as a global judgment of an individual’s subjective level of satisfaction with life.  The Satisfaction with Life scale (SWLS) allows people to express their perceptions about 5 simple statements. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the scale in a Cypriot sample of 341 university students.  Psychometric analysis revealed that the data fit well in a unidimensional factor model in a confirmatory factor analysis, with adequate reliability indices of McDonald’s ω and Cronbach’s α =.86, and test-retest reliability of Pearson r = .85.  SWLS scores had negative correlation coefficients with scores from trait anxiety, perceived stress, neuroticism, behavioral inhibition and depression measures, and moderate to strong positive correlations with scores from optimism and self-esteem measures; they were weakly positively associated with social desirability and uncorrelated with need for cognition scores. Overall, the SWLS scale had satisfactory psychometric properties in terms of reliability, factorial, convergent and discriminant validity and can be used with a Greek-speaking student population.