Research is scarce concerning the validity of subjective wellbeing measures for children aged 12 years and less. There are even fewer subjective wellbeing data for children with complex backgrounds and personal circumstances and those experiencing socio-demographic disadvantage. This study compares the psychometric properties of the child and adult versions of the Personal Wellbeing Index. Participants were 1761 ‘at-risk’ children aged 10–12 years, and 2000 geographically representative Australian adults. While there was sufficient fit with a one-factor structure, the reliability estimates were lower in the child sample and the incidence of response bias was significantly higher. Collectively, these findings suggest caution in the use of subjective wellbeing measures with children.
Abstract While optimizing quality of life (QOL) is a key goal of rehabilitation care, no previous study has reported on what ‘QOL’ means to youth with chronic health conditions. In addition, no qualitative studies have explored the relationship between QOL and self-determination (SD). Objectives of this qualitative study were to examine: what the terms ‘quality of life’ and ‘self-determination’ mean to youth with chronic conditions; the factors these youth think are linked with these concepts; t...
#2Edna Shimoni(HUJI: Hebrew University of Jerusalem)H-Index: 1
Last. Asher Ben-Arieh(HUJI: Hebrew University of Jerusalem)H-Index: 30
view all 3 authors...
Research points to a need to further test subjective well-being (SWB) measures with children, examining their applicability in different languages and cultural contexts. This study begins to fill this gap by presenting a comparative analysis of SWB measures among a large sample of 12-year-old Arab and Israeli children (N = 1081). It tests five SWB measures: overall life satisfaction (OLS); happiness in the last two weeks (HLTW); Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS); Brief Multidimensional St...
#2Gwyther Rees(Ebor: University of York)H-Index: 12
The potential to make cross-national comparisons is an important aspect of the growing global interest in subjective well-being. Such comparisons offer the prospect of understanding variations in levels of well-being and the factors contributing to it which can be useful for practical and policy initiatives to improve the lives of the population. However, relatively little is known about the extent to which such comparisons are reliable and valid, particularly in relation to children’s well-bein...
Despite increasing research interest in the subjective wellbeing (SWB) of Indigenous Australians, SWB measures used in these studies have not been validated for use in this population. Until the measurement equivalence of scales used in this population are demonstrated, inferences regarding potential differences in SWB across Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups cannot be validly inferred. To rectify this, the present study examines the psychometric equivalence of the Personal Wellbeing Index—Sc...
Despite the wealth of accumulated research evaluating subjective wellbeing (SWB) in children and adults, the validity of scores from parallel forms of SWB measures for each age group has yet to be empirically tested. This study examines the psychometric equivalence of the child and adult forms of the personal wellbeing index (PWI) using multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis. The child sample comprised 1,029 Victorian high-school students (aged 11–20) sampled across three independent studie...
The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index monitors the subjective wellbeing of the Australian population. Our first survey was conducted in April 2001 and this report concerns the 30th survey, undertaken in August 2013. Our previous survey had been conducted four months earlier in April. This intervening period corresponded to the 6th year of the Labor Government, elected in November 2007. Shortly after data collection, on 7th September, an election took place at which Labor lost to the Liberal Party...
This research proposed and applied guidelines for the investigation of subjective experience in young children. The results show that children normally experience positive wellbeing, and can reliably report this. However they rely upon adults for the protection and maintenance of subjective wellbeing, until they are cognitively mature enough to do so for themselves.
We evaluated gender-based and cross-cultural equivalence of the Body Dissatisfaction Scale of the Body Change Inventory in a sample of 4,005 adolescents from 7 cultures that represent diverse body image ideals and response styles. Results of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated equivalence of the scale across gender but not across cultures. Follow-up analyses identified small but significant cross-cultural differences in response styles (specifically, acquiescence and middle resp...
The 7-item adult version of the Personal Wellbeing scale (Cummins et al. Social Indic Res 64:159–190, 2003) was administered to two samples of adolescents aged 12–16 in Brazil (N = 1,588) and Spain (N = 2,900), and to a sample of adolescents aged 14–16 in Chile (N = 843). The results obtained were analyzed to determine its psychometric characteristics when used with adolescents in the three different countries and to check whether two additional items would improve its qualities. Results reveal ...
The Personal Wellbeing Index—School Children (PWI-SC) is designed as a parallel form of the adult PWI-A, to measure subjective wellbeing. This study examines the psychometric properties of the PWI-SC. Data from 351 students, aged between 12 and 20 years, were collected by two independent studies over the years 2005–2006. Using the combined data, the results indicate good psychometric properties for the PWI-SC. It is also found that females have higher SWB but that both genders show an age-relate...
The well-being of children has received increasing attention in recent years. Nevertheless, we lack adequate brief self-report tools that enable us to consider young children’s well-being in policy evaluations and educational research. This study describes the adaptation and first validation of the Swedish version of How I Feel About My School (HIFAMS), a subjective well-being questionnaire suitable for children aged 4 to 12 years, which was originally developed in the United Kingdom (UK). Descr...
Physical activity has beneficial effects on health and is extremely recommended for children's well-being. Understanding risk factors that could cause negative affect in children practicing physical activity is hugely relevant, and there is a growing consensus that autonomous and controlled motivation in the self-determination theory (SDT) framework could offer a broader perspective. Consequently, this study aims to examine the longitudinal relations between autonomous motivation, controlled mot...
The article discusses material deprivation experienced by poor children in Malaysia. The data from a survey of 360 poor Malaysian children, age 9 to 17 years old. The study measured the material deprivation index based on the socially perceived necessities methodology. The findings implied that poor children in Malaysia experienced only a small degree of material deprivation. The results of this study provide valuable inputs for the government of Malaysia to improve its social services for child...
It is crucial to establish the validity of existing measures of children’s subjective well-being (SWB) for use within specific contexts. Two important measurement issues that implicate the validly of SWB scales are ‘question framing’ and ‘response options’. Fundamental to the latter is the concept of scale granularity, which refers to the number of response options imposed on a scale. However, the majority of studies on the topic have used adult and not child samples. The overarching aim of the ...
The research in the field of positive psychology is alive for children and adolescents, and especially the effects of intervention studies are promising. While a large number of instruments exist f...
•China's housing policy has promoted private homeownership.•Home ownership increases the subjective wellbeing of children.•Effects are heterogeneous across gender, residential location and migration status.•Our findings have important implications for parents and government policies.
#2Steven C. Pitts(UMBC: University of Maryland, Baltimore County)H-Index: 20
Last. Jason Schiffman(UMBC: University of Maryland, Baltimore County)H-Index: 28
view all 12 authors...
Abstract Self-report screening instruments offer promise in furthering early identification of at-risk youth, yet current efforts are limited by false positive rates. Identifying moderators of accuracy is a potential step towards improving identification and prevention efforts. We investigated the moderating effect of age on self-reported attenuated positive symptoms from the Prime Screen and clinician diagnosed clinical high-risk/early psychosis (CHR/EP) status. Participants (N = 134) were raci...
To what extent does school experience affect the subjective wellbeing of children in different countries and contexts? What relationship can be established with children in care at school? In the framework of the Children’s Worlds Project, a representative sample of children from 18 countries (N = 21,508) provided opinions and evaluations regarding different domains of their lives, including school. Results showed that children (aged 12) who reported liking to attend school, feeling safety and n...