Measurement invariance in the Satisfaction with Life Scale in Chilean and Ecuadorian older adults

The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) has been validated in numerous countries. However, there are still few studies that evaluate its cross-cultural measurement invariance. The measurement invariance of the SWLS across older adults from Chile and Ecuador was evaluated in this study using multi-gr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality and individual differences 2017-05, Vol.110, p.96-101
Main Authors: Schnettler, Berta, Miranda-Zapata, Edgardo, Lobos, Germán, del Carmen Lapo, María, Adasme-Berríos, Cristian, Hueche, Clementina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Comparative studies
Confirmatory factor analysis
Cross cultural studies
Culture
Developing countries
Discriminant analysis
International comparisons
Life satisfaction
Measurement
Measurement invariance
Older adults
Older people
Quality of life
Thresholds
Uniqueness
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) has been validated in numerous countries. However, there are still few studies that evaluate its cross-cultural measurement invariance. The measurement invariance of the SWLS across older adults from Chile and Ecuador was evaluated in this study using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. Participants consisted of 756 older adults from Chile (mean age=71.38, SD=6.48, range=60–92) and 817 older adults from Ecuador (mean age=73.70, SD=7.45, range=60–101). Results show partial measurement invariance with invariance of all but one factor loading (item 3), invariance of all but two thresholds (items 4 and 5) and invariance of all but two uniqueness (items 4 and 5) for the SWLS across Chilean and Ecuadorian older adults samples. Therefore, the SWLS would not be a valid instrument for cross-cultural comparisons of the levels of life satisfaction across older adults from Chile and Ecuador. These results emphasize the importance of establishing measurement invariance of the scale before comparing the SWLS scores across different cultures or countries. •We measured invariance in the SWLS in older adults from Chile and Ecuador.•The SWLS exhibited configural invariance across Chilean and Ecuadorian samples.•It exhibited partial measurement invariance across Chilean and Ecuadorian samples.•The SWLS is not valid for comparisons of older adults from these countries.
ISSN:0191-8869
1873-3549
DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2017.01.036