Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)

Instructions:

Below are five statements that you may agree or disagree with. Indicate your agreement with each item by tapping the appropriate box, from strongly agree, to strongly disagree. Please be open and honest in your responding.

Strongly agree Agree Slightly agree Neither agree nor disagree Slightly disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
  In most ways my life is close to my ideal. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The conditions of my life are excellent. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
I am satisfied with my life. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
So far I have gotten the important things I want in life. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Description

The SWLS is a short 5-item instrument designed to measure global cognitive judgments of satisfaction with one’s life. The scale usually requires only about one minute of a respondent’s time, where respondents answer on a Likert scale. It’s questions are open to interpretation, making this scale suitable for adults with a range of background.

Validity and Reliability

Subjective well-being is conceptualized as consisting of two major components: the emotional or affective component and the judgment or cognitive component. The SWLS was designed to measure the judgment component. Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffith (1985) have conducted a series of validation studies showing that the SWLS has a single factor, high internal consistency, is reliable and is content appropriate for a wide range of groups. Convergent validity was established through high correlations with other well-being measures, including the Fordyce Scale and the Giunn Scale. Additionally, the SWLS has a low correlation (.09) with measures of affect intensity, showing that it is likely to be reliable over affective states.

Interpretation

Scores consist of a raw score (between 5 and 35). Higher scores represent higher life satisfaction. Scorers can be assigned into six well-being categories and interpretative text in provided for each. – 30- 35 Extremely satisfied – 25 – 29 Satisfied – 20 – 24 Slightly satisfied – 15 – 19 Slightly dissatisfied – 10 – 14 Dissatisfied – 5 – 9 Extremely dissatisfied

Developer

Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction with Life Scale.Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71-75. http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~ediener/SWLS.html

Number Of Questions

5

References

Pavot, W. G., Diener, E., Colvin, C. R., & Sandvik, E. (1991). Further validation of the Satisfaction with Life Scale: Evidence for the cross-method convergence of well-being measures. Journal of Personality Assessment, 57, 149-161.

Developer Reference:

Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction with Life Scale.Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71-75. http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~ediener/SWLS.html

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