Reliability of Life Satisfaction Measures in Middle School Students

Abstract

A total of 248 students from one Southeastern U.S. middle school responded to measures of global and domain-based life satisfaction on three occasions, reflecting 5-month, 7-month, and 1-year time intervals. Alpha coefficients were all above .80 for each global and domain-based score on each occasion. The test–retest coefficients were variable, underscoring the importance of contextual factors in life satisfaction reports. Nevertheless, with the exception of the Friends domain, the retest coefficients for the global and domain-based scores all exceeded .50 across all three intervals, suggesting a moderate degree of stability yet potential sensitivity to changing life circumstances.