Contentment with Life Assessment Scale (CLAS)

Background:

Perceived global satisfaction with one’s life is generally thought to be above average. Lavallee and colleagues (2007), in their study, report that the average Anglo-American’s life satisfaction may be more accurately described as neutral. The CLAS is a measure developed to assess life satisfaction to better understand differences in subjective well-being.

Psychometrics:

Test reliability are reported in Lavallee et al. (2007).

Author of Tool:

Loraine F. Lavallee, P. Maurine Hatch, Alex C. Michalos, & Tara McKinley

Key references:

Lavallee, L. F., Hatch, P. M., Michalos, A. C., & McKinley, T. (2007). Development of the contentment with life assessment scale (CLAS): Using daily life experiences to verify levels of self-reported life satisfaction. Social Indicators Research, 83, 201-244.

Primary use / Purpose:

The CLAS is a brief 5-item index that assesses contentment, fulfillment, and self-discrepancies to give an overall indicator of life satisfaction and subjective well-being.

The CLAS: Contentment with Life Assessment Scale

Authors: Loraine F. Lavallee, P. Maurine Hatch, Alex C. Michalos, & Tara McKinley

Instructions: For each of the statements below, please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with the statement.

Respondents indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with the items on a 7-point scale on which

  • 1 = strongly disagree,
  • 2 = disagree,
  • 3 = slightly disagree,
  • 4 = neutral, 5 = slightly agree,
  • 6 = agree,
  • 7 = strongly agree.

Item

  • 1. I am very content with my life.
  • 2. I am living my life to the fullest.
  • 3. When I examine my life as a whole, I feel I am not meeting my aspirations. a
  • 4. I feel dissatisfied because I’m not doing everything that I want to be doing in my life. a
  • 5. Nothing is currently lacking in my life.

Note. a Reverse-keyed item.

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