Question 1
A. I dislike my daily routine. (1)
B. I neither enjoy nor dislike my daily routine. (2)
C. I enjoy my daily routine‚ but I do like to get away from it. (3)
D. I enjoy my daily routine so much that I rarely take breaks from it. (4)
E. I enjoy my daily routine so much that I almost never take breaks from it. (5)
Question 2
A. I feel disconnected from other people. (1)
B. I feel neither connected nor disconnected from other people. (2)
C. I feel connected to friends and family members. (3)
D. I feel connected with most people‚ even if I do not know them well. (4)
E. I feel connected to everyone in the world. (5)
Question 3
A. I feel like a failure. (1)
B. I do not feel like a success. (2)
C. I feel like I have succeeded more than the average person. (3)
D. As I look back on my life‚ all I see are a lot of successes. (4)
E. I feel I am an extraordinarily successful person. (5)
Question 4
A. Most of the time I am bored. (1)
B. Most of the time I am neither bored nor interested in what I am doing. (2)
C. Most of the time I am interested in what I am doing. (1)
D. Most of the time I am quite interested in what I am doing. (2)
E. Most of the time I am fascinated by what I am doing. (3)
Question 5
A. I am displeased with myself. (1)
B. I am neither pleased nor displeased with myself—I am neutral. (2)
C. I am pleased with myself. (3)
D. I am very pleased with myself. (4)
E. I could not be any more pleased with myself. (5)
Question 6
A. When I am working on a task‚ I often feel frustrated. (1)
B. When I am working on a task‚ sometimes I feel frustrated and sometimes I don’t. (2)
C. When I am working on a task‚ I am usually not frustrated. (3)
D. When I am working on a task‚ I am rarely frustrated. (4)
E. When I am working on a task‚ I am almost never frustrated. (5)
Question 7
A. I am joyless. (1)
B. I am neither joyful nor joyless. (2)
C. I am more joyful than joyless. (3)
D. I am much more joyful than joyless. (4)
E. Almost everything about my life fills me with joy (5)
Question 8
A. I dislike my work (paid or unpaid). (1)
B. I neither like nor dislike my work. (2)
C. For the most part‚ I like my work. (3)
D. My work gives me great satisfaction. (4)
E. My work provides true and deep satisfaction. (5)
Question 9
A. I have made more bad choices than good in life. (1)
B. Some of the choices I have made in life have been good; some have been bad. (2)
C. I have made more good choices than bad in life. (3)
D. I have made mostly good choices in life. (4)
E. Even if I could‚ I would not change any of the choices I have made. (5)
Question 10
A. Life is bad. (1)
B. Life is okay. (2)
C. Life is good. (3)
D. Life is very good. (4)
E. Life is wonderful. (5)
Question 11
A. My life does not have a purpose. (1)
B. I do not know my purpose in life. (2)
C. I have a hint about my purpose in life. (3)
D. I have a pretty good idea about my purpose in life. (4)
E. I have a very clear idea about my purpose in life. (3)
Question 12
A. I have little or no energy. (1)
B. My energy level is neither high nor low. (2)
C. I have a good amount of energy. (3)
D. I feel energetic doing almost everything. (4)
E. I have so much energy that I feel I can do most anything. (5)
Question 13
A. I experience more displeasure than pleasure. (1)
B. I experience pleasure and displeasure in equal measure. (2)
C. I experience more pleasure than displeasure. (3)
D. I experience much more than pleasure than displeasure. (4)
E. My life is filled with pleasure. (5)
Question 14
A. Time passes slowly during most or all of my activities. (1)
B. Time passes quickly during some of my activities and slowly for others. (2)
C. Time passes quickly during most of my activities. (3)
D. Time passes quickly during all of my activities. (4)
E. Time passes so quickly during all of my activities that I do not even notice it. (5)
Question 15
A. I am ashamed of who I am. (1)
B. I am not ashamed of who I am. (2)
C. I am proud of who I am. (3)
D. I am very proud of who I am. (4)
E. I am extraordinarily proud of who I am. (5)
Question 16
A. I am discouraged about the future. (1)
B. I am neither encouraged nor discouraged about the future. (2)
C. I feel somewhat encouraged about the future. (3)
D. I feel quite encouraged about the future. (4)
E. I feel extraordinarily encouraged about the future. (5)
Question 17
A. When I am working on a task‚ I pay more attention to what is going on around me than I do to the task. (1)
B. When I am working on a task‚ I pay as much attention to what is going on around me as I do to the task. (2)
C. When I am working on a task‚ I pay more attention to the task than to what is going on around me. (3)
D. When I am working on a task‚ I rarely notice what is going on around me. (4)
E. When I am working on a task‚ I pay so much attention to it that the outside world practically ceases to exist. (5)
Question 18
A. Every day I spend almost all of my time doing things that are unimportant. (1)
B. Every day I spend a lot of time doing things that are neither important nor unimportant. (2)
C. Every day I spend some time doing things that are important. (3)
D. I spend the greater part of each day doing things that are important. (4)
E. Practically every moment of my day is spent doing things that are important. (5)
Question 19
A. I am pessimistic. (1)
B. I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic. (2)
C. I am optimistic. (3)
D. I am very optimistic. (4)
E. I am the most optimistic person I know. (5)
Question 20
A. If anything‚ what I do has a negative effect on the world. (1)
B. In the grand scheme of things‚ my existence neither helps nor hurts the world. (2)
C. I am making a small but positive difference in the world. (3)
D. I am making the world a better place. (4)
E. My life is having a lasting‚ positive impact on the world. (5)
pleasure‚ engagement and meaning in life
This instrument can be found at: Simmons C. A.‚ Lehmann P. (eds) Google Scholar
Seligman‚ M. E. P.‚ Steen‚ T. A.‚ Park‚ N.‚ & Peterson‚ C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist‚ 60(5)‚ 410–421.
Steen et al. (2005). Steen Happiness Index. In: Simmons C. A.‚ Lehmann P. (eds). Tools for strengths-based assessment and evaluation‚ New York‚ NY: Springer‚ pp. 81-85. (2013). Google Scholar