Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

2-2016

Abstract

There is hardly any cross-cultural research on the measurement invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scales (BMSLSS). The current article evaluates the measurement invariance of the BMSLSS across cultural contexts. This cross-sectional study sampled 7,739 adolescents and emerging adults in 23 countries. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit of configural and partial measurement weights invariance models, indicating similar patterns and strengths in factor loading for both adolescents and emerging adults across various countries. We found insufficient evidence for scalar invariance in both the adolescents’ and the emerging adults’ samples. A multi-level confirmatory factor analysis indicated configural invariance of the structure at country and individual level. Internal consistency, evaluated by alpha and omega coefficients per country, yielded acceptable results. The translated BMSLSS across different cultural contexts presents good psychometric characteristics similar to what has been reported in the original scale, though scalar invariance remains problematic. Our results indicate that the BMSLSS forms a brief measure of life satisfaction, which has accrued substantial evidence of construct validity, thus suitable for use in cross-cultural surveys with adolescents and emerging adults, although evaluation of degree of invariance must be carried out to ensure its suitability for mean comparisons.

Keywords

BMLSS, confirmatory factor analysis, cross-cultural, factor structure, invariance

Discipline

Community-Based Learning | Family, Life Course, and Society | Sociology of Culture

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment

Volume

34

Issue

1

First Page

28

Last Page

38

ISSN

0734-2829

Identifier

10.1177/0734282915611284

Publisher

SAGE

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Comments

Amina Abubakar, Fons van de Vijver, Itziar Alonso-Arbiol, Jia He, Byron Adams, Said Aldhafri, Arzu Aydinli-Karakulak, Josephine Arasa, Diana Boer, Ozgur Celenk, Radosveta Dimitrova, Maria Cristina Ferreira, Ronald Fischer, Fomba Emmanuel Mbebeb, María Teresa Frías, Andrés Fresno, Omri Gillath, Charles Harb, Penny Handani, Given Hapunda, Shanmukh Kamble, Marianna Kosic, Joseph Lah Looh, Lubna Mazrui, Rafael Emilio Mendia, Margaret Murugami, Mei Mason-Li, Weny Savitry Pandia, Cristina Perdomo, Maja Schachner, Samantha Sim, Rosario Spencer, Angela Suryani, Ergyul Tair

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282915611284

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