Chapter 11 Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)

1 Peabody Treatment Progress Battery Chapter 11. Satisfaction with life Scale ( swls ). Background Purpose The Satisfaction with life Scale 7 ( swls ; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffen, 1985) is a measure of adult caregiver life Satisfaction . In general, measures of life Satisfaction require individuals to assess the quality of their lives on the basis of their own unique set of criteria. The swls asks adult caregivers to report on Satisfaction with their life as a whole. The adult caregivers' perception that life in general is going well for them can be an important factor in the treatment process. Theory Subjective well-being has been conceptualized as being composed of two components: an affective component and a cognitive component (Diener et al.)

2 , 1985). life Satisfaction is viewed as the cognitive aspect of subjective well-being. Because life Satisfaction is a subjective construct, individuals are likely to differ in terms of which life domains they view as most critical to their well-being. Additionally, they are likely to differ in terms of what self-imposed standard or set of standards they use to evaluate their life Satisfaction . History of Development The development of the swls began with the Scale authors (Diener et al., 1985). generating 48 theory-driven items reflecting life Satisfaction and well-being. An initial factor analysis indicated three factors: life Satisfaction , Positive Affect, and Negative Affect.

3 The ten items that loaded onto the life Satisfaction factor were retained and were later reduced to five items to make a more parsimonious Scale . Psychometric analyses conducted by the Scale authors indicated adequate Scale properties ( , reliability and validity). The swls was also evaluated as part of the psychometric study as described in Chapter 2. The Scale demonstrated good Scale properties and the theoretical construct was confirmed by the data. Structure The swls measures perceived life Satisfaction using five items that correspond to aspects of overall life Satisfaction as currently perceived by the adult caregiver.

4 The response options range from one (Strongly Disagree) to seven (Strongly Agree) on a Likert-type Scale . Factor analysis with the test sample has confirmed that the swls . 7. The Satisfaction with life Scale is in the public domain ( ~ediener/ ). 136. Peabody Treatment Progress Battery assesses a total score of life Satisfaction . The swls Total Score is calculated as the mean of all five items. The analyses presented in this Chapter required 85% of the items to have valid answers, and the psychometrics are based on the complete sample of the psychometric study. See Chapter 2 for more detail on the psychometric sample and test development procedures.

5 Administration The swls is a self-report measure that may be administered during the intake, treatment, discharge, and follow-up phases as shown in Table , and is to be completed by the adult caregiver only. The suggested frequency of administration is once a month or at least every two months. Table Administration of swls by Phase Intake Treatment Discharge Follow-Up Y A C Y A C Y A C Y A C.. Y = Youth (age 11-18); A = Adult Caregiver; C = Clinician Suggested Frequency: Once a month or at least every two months The suggested administration schedule for all the measures in the Peabody Treatment Progress Battery is presented in Appendix A.

6 All PTPB measures with self-scoring forms can be found in Appendix B: Measures and Self-Scoring Forms. Description Basic Descriptives The means of the swls Total Scores are aligned near the center at four, and show no ceiling constraints. As seen in Table , the swls Total Score has a neutral skew and a mesokurtic distribution slightly flatter than the normal. Table Descriptive Statistics for swls Summary Scores Scale N Mean Std Dev Skewness Kurtosis Min Max swls 485 137. Peabody Treatment Progress Battery Quartiles Quartiles appear in Table High scores are those in the top quarter with low scores in the bottom quarter.

7 For the swls Total Score, a score greater than is considered to be high, whereas a score less than is considered to be low. To aid interpretation, the quartiles were used to create low, medium, and high scores and percentile ranks based on comparison to the psychometric sample. This information is presented in the last section of this Chapter . Table swls Quartiles swls . Quartile Total Score 100% Max 75% Q3 50% Median 25% Q1 0% Min Evidence of Reliability Reliability Coefficients The Cronbach's alpha internal consistency reliability correlations are presented in Table These alphas suggest a satisfactory degree of internal consistency for the total score.

8 Table Cronbach's Alphas for the swls . Unstandardized Standardized Scale Alpha Alpha Satisfaction with life Scale 138. Peabody Treatment Progress Battery Comprehensive Item Psychometrics Table presents the comprehensive item psychometrics. Shaded cells indicate that a criterion was out of the range of sought values, as described previously in Table in Chapter two. Only items with two or more shaded cells are considered problematic. The item I wouldn't change anything is flagged as potentially problematic. It had fit indices that were slightly out of the acceptable range with somewhat lower item-total correlation and discrimination.

9 These mild disturbances suggest that this item measures something in addition to Satisfaction with life . However, this problem is not severe and doesn't necessitate revising the swls at this time, especially considering that it is a widely used Scale .. Table Comprehensive Item Analysis for the swls . Std CFA Loadings Discrimination Item-Total Kurtosis Measure St Dev Outfit Mean Item Infit N. Gotten the important things 506 Satisfied with life 501 Close to ideal life 502 Excellent life conditions 499 Wouldn't change anything 504 Note: Items in ascending order by item difficulty (Measure). 139. Peabody Treatment Progress Battery Standard Errors of Measurement For the swls Total Score, the standard error of measurement (SEM) is points.

10 with 95% confidence, we can say that the true score is between approximately 2 SEMS, or points on a one to seven point Scale . Reliable change index The reliable change threshold is points with 75% confidence for the swls Total Score, and gives us 75% confidence that a difference of more than points is not due to chance. If the change is in a positive direction ( , an increase in score value) it represents an increase in reported caregiver life Satisfaction , while a change in the negative direction indicates a reduction in perceived caregiver life Satisfaction . Test-Retest Reliability Not available at this time. Evidence of Validity Scree Plot The scree plot of eigenvalues, Figure , suggests that the swls is a one-factor Scale since the second eigenvalue is less than one.