IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v10y2023i1d10.1057_s41599-023-02299-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Single-item measures of happiness and life satisfaction: the issue of cross-country invariance of popular general well-being measures

Author

Listed:
  • Petra Raudenská

    (Institute of Sociology)

Abstract

Single-item measures of general well-being are increasingly being analysed cross-culturally but without clear evidence of comparability level attainment. The primary objective of this study is to examine the cross-country measurement invariance of the two most common single-item measures—life satisfaction and happiness—across a large number of countries. For this purpose, 45 data sources from large-scale sample surveys conducted between 1976 and 2018 were used. This study presented a novel technique for examining the measurement invariance of individual items and used Bayesian approximation to evaluate the extent of the non-invariance of certain items across nations. The findings revealed that the happiness item’s factor loadings and intercepts deviated less, indicating comparability across more countries than the life satisfaction item. It is possible that the construct of happiness is more universally applicable across cultures than that of life satisfaction. However, the item parameters of the survey items varied among several countries in each round of the program, indicating that the observed score means could only be compared between a few participating countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Petra Raudenská, 2023. "Single-item measures of happiness and life satisfaction: the issue of cross-country invariance of popular general well-being measures," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-02299-1
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-02299-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-023-02299-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-023-02299-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William Meredith, 1993. "Measurement invariance, factor analysis and factorial invariance," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 58(4), pages 525-543, December.
    2. Kari Tucker & Daniel Ozer & Sonja Lyubomirsky & Julia Boehm, 2006. "Testing for Measurement Invariance in the Satisfaction with Life Scale: A Comparison of Russians and North Americans," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 78(2), pages 341-360, September.
    3. Veljko Jovanović & Milica Lazić, 2020. "Is Longer Always Better? A Comparison of the Validity of Single-item Versus Multiple-item Measures of Life Satisfaction," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(3), pages 675-692, July.
    4. Felicia Huppert & Timothy So, 2013. "Erratum to: Flourishing Across Europe: Application of a New Conceptual Framework for Defining Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 1245-1246, February.
    5. Ed Diener & Ronald Inglehart & Louis Tay, 2013. "Theory and Validity of Life Satisfaction Scales," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 112(3), pages 497-527, July.
    6. Christian Bjørnskov, 2010. "How Comparable are the Gallup World Poll Life Satisfaction Data?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 41-60, March.
    7. Filip Fors & Joakim Kulin, 2016. "Bringing Affect Back in: Measuring and Comparing Subjective Well-Being Across Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 323-339, May.
    8. Felicia Huppert & Nic Marks & Andrew Clark & Johannes Siegrist & Alois Stutzer & Joar Vittersø & Morten Wahrendorf, 2009. "Measuring Well-being Across Europe: Description of the ESS Well-being Module and Preliminary Findings," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 91(3), pages 301-315, May.
    9. Felicia Huppert & Timothy So, 2013. "Flourishing Across Europe: Application of a New Conceptual Framework for Defining Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 837-861, February.
    10. Steenkamp, Jan-Benedict E M & Baumgartner, Hans, 1998. "Assessing Measurement Invariance in Cross-National Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 25(1), pages 78-90, June.
    11. Magdalena Żemojtel-Piotrowska & Jarosław P. Piotrowski & Jan Cieciuch & Byron G. Adams & Evgeny N. Osin & Rahkman Ardi & Sergiu Bălţătescu & Arbinda Lal Bhomi & Amanda Clinton & Gisela T. Clunie & Car, 2017. "Measurement Invariance of Personal Well-Being Index (PWI-8) Across 26 Countries," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1697-1711, December.
    12. Bram Vanhoutte & James Nazroo, 2014. "Cognitive, Affective and Eudemonic Well-Being in Later Life: Measurement Equivalence over Gender and Life Stage," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(2), pages 1-14, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gregor Gonza & Anže Burger, 2017. "Subjective Well-Being During the 2008 Economic Crisis: Identification of Mediating and Moderating Factors," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1763-1797, December.
    2. Mohsen Joshanloo & Veljko Jovanović & Tim Taylor, 2019. "A multidimensional understanding of prosperity and well-being at country level: Data-driven explorations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-31, October.
    3. Cho, Esther Yin-Nei & Yu, Fuk-Yuen, 2020. "A review of measurement tools for child wellbeing," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    4. Veljko Jovanović, 2019. "Evaluation of Domain Satisfaction Measure in Cross-National Perspective: Evidence from Austria and Four Countries of the Former Yugoslavia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 1369-1385, February.
    5. Valeria Donisi & Federico Tedeschi & Juan Luis Gonzalez-Caballero & Johanna Cresswell-Smith & Elvira Lara & Marta Miret & Anna K. Forsman & Kristian Wahlbeck & Francesco Amaddeo & Jorid Kalseth, 2021. "Is Mental Well-Being in the Oldest Old Different from That in Younger Age Groups? Exploring the Mental Well-Being of the Oldest-Old Population in Europe," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1693-1717, April.
    6. R. A. Burns, 2020. "Age-Related Differences in the Factor Structure of Multiple Wellbeing Indicators in a Large Multinational European Survey," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 37-52, January.
    7. Richard Andrew Burns & Dimity Ann Crisp & Jiayun Chng & Kristen Murray, 2022. "Community Members Prioritise Indicators of Both Mental Health and Wellbeing to Define Flourishing and Quality of Life: Towards The Total Psychological Health Framework," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(6), pages 3475-3502, December.
    8. Paul Allin & David J. Hand, 2017. "New statistics for old?—measuring the wellbeing of the UK," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 180(1), pages 3-43, January.
    9. Paola Conigliaro, 2022. "Subjective Well-Being in Italian Regions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(2), pages 751-781, June.
    10. Anastasia Charalampi & Catherine Michalopoulou & Clive Richardson, 2020. "Validation of the 2012 European Social Survey Measurement of Wellbeing in Seventeen European Countries," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 73-105, March.
    11. Mark Fabian, 2019. "Racing from Subjective Well-Being to Public Policy: A Review of The Origins of Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(6), pages 2011-2026, August.
    12. Savatore Puglisi & Ionuț Virgil Șerban, 2019. "Beyond Gdp: Which Options To Better Represent Modern Socio-Economic Progress?," Sociology and Social Work Review, International Society for projects in Education and Research, vol. 3(1), pages 17-32, June.
    13. Janina Isabel Steinert & Lucie Dale Cluver & G. J. Melendez-Torres & Sebastian Vollmer, 2018. "One Size Fits All? The Validity of a Composite Poverty Index Across Urban and Rural Households in South Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 51-72, February.
    14. Mizuki Wada & Yoshitake Takebayashi & Michio Murakami, 2022. "Role of Values and Resilience in Well-Being among Individuals Affected by the Fukushima Disaster," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(6), pages 3503-3515, December.
    15. Papageorgiou, Athanasios, 2018. "The Effect of Immigration on the Well-Being of Native Populations: Evidence from the United Kingdom," MPRA Paper 93045, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Kroh, Julia & Globocnik, Dietfried & Schultz, Carsten & Holdhof, Frederike & Salomo, Søren, 2024. "Micro-foundations of digital innovation capability – A mixed method approach to develop and validate a multi-dimensional measurement instrument," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    17. Alexandra Cristina Sãžrbu & Mircea Asandului, 2021. "Determinants Of Subjective Well-Being Among Romanian Older Adults," Review of Economic and Business Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 28, pages 111-124, December.
    18. Eldad Davidov & Stefan Thörner & Peter Schmidt & Stefanie Gosen & Carina Wolf, 2011. "Level and change of group-focused enmity in Germany: unconditional and conditional latent growth curve models with four panel waves," AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis, Springer;German Statistical Society, vol. 95(4), pages 481-500, December.
    19. P. Couper, Mick & Cernat, Alexandru & Beth Ofstedal, Mary, 2015. "Estimation of mode effects in the Health and Retirement Study using measurement models," ISER Working Paper Series 2015-19, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    20. Carlos Miguel Lemos & Ross Joseph Gore & Ivan Puga-Gonzalez & F LeRon Shults, 2019. "Dimensionality and factorial invariance of religiosity among Christians and the religiously unaffiliated: A cross-cultural analysis based on the International Social Survey Programme," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-36, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-02299-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.