AGE AND GENDER-SPECIFIC DIMENSIONALITY OF THE SATISFACTION WITH LIFE SCALE
Author(s)
Amira Mohammed Ali, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.1, Carlos Laranjeira, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.2, Maryam Alharrasi, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.3, Abeer Selim, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.4, Annamaria Pakai, MSc, RN, PhD, habil.5, Imre Boncz, MSc, PhD, MD6, Sameer ALKUBATI, PhD7, Haitham Khatatbeh, PhD8;
1Alexanderia University, Department of Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria, Egypt, 2Polytechnic University of Leiria, School of Health Sciences, Leiria, Portugal, 3Sultan Qaboos University, College of Nursing, Muscat, Oman, 4Mansura University, Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura, Egypt, 5University of Pécs, Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Emergency Care, Pedagogy of Health and Nursing Sciences, Pécs, Hungary, 6University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary, 7University of Hail, Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, College of Nursing, Hail, Saudi Arabia, 8Yarmouk University, Faculty of Nursing, Irbid, Jordan
1Alexanderia University, Department of Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria, Egypt, 2Polytechnic University of Leiria, School of Health Sciences, Leiria, Portugal, 3Sultan Qaboos University, College of Nursing, Muscat, Oman, 4Mansura University, Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura, Egypt, 5University of Pécs, Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Emergency Care, Pedagogy of Health and Nursing Sciences, Pécs, Hungary, 6University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary, 7University of Hail, Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, College of Nursing, Hail, Saudi Arabia, 8Yarmouk University, Faculty of Nursing, Irbid, Jordan
OBJECTIVES: The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) generally operates as unidimensional but demonstrates invariance issues. This study aimed to examine the construct validity and stability of various SWLS across age and gender groups.
METHODS: Employing a convenience sample of community-dwelling European adults (N = 7531, median age = 26 (22-28) years, 51.1% females), this instrumental study investigated the structure and stability of SWLS through exploratory/confirmatory factor analysis (EFA/CFA) and multigroup CFA in SPSS and JASP.
RESULTS: EFA in 30% of the sample (n = 2246, KMO (0.86), Bartlett’s test of sphericity χ2 (10) = 4561.84, p = 0.001) revealed a single factor with an eigenvalue of 3.12, which explained 62.35% of the variance. The unidimensional and two bidimensional structures (present/past life satisfaction; achievement/acceptance) expressed excellent fit (χ2 (4-5) = 92.60-106.14, ps = 0.001; all CFIs = 0.994, ; TLI = 0.985-0.987, ; RMSEA = 0.052-0.056, ; SRMR = 0.013-0.014). Bifactor and second-order structures based on both two factor-structures did not converge. The three structures were invariant at the configural metric, scalar, and strict levels across age (<26, ≥26 years) while only the unidimensional SWLS was invariant at all levels across genders. Achievement/acceptance SWLS converged only in males while present/past life satisfaction converged only in females—the fit of both models was excellent, and the fit of the latter slightly improved when the errors of items 2 and 4 correlated.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the use of the SWLS as a single-factor instrument for comparative purposes. SWLS components (cognitive or experiential) are interpreted uniformly among different age groups while gender-specific convergence patterns suggest meaningful gender-related nuances in its dimensional expression—males and females differently conceptualize SWLS components. Research should explore theoretical mechanisms underlying differential structuring of life satisfaction and examine whether these gender-specific dimensional patterns replicate across cultures and longitudinal designs.
METHODS: Employing a convenience sample of community-dwelling European adults (N = 7531, median age = 26 (22-28) years, 51.1% females), this instrumental study investigated the structure and stability of SWLS through exploratory/confirmatory factor analysis (EFA/CFA) and multigroup CFA in SPSS and JASP.
RESULTS: EFA in 30% of the sample (n = 2246, KMO (0.86), Bartlett’s test of sphericity χ2 (10) = 4561.84, p = 0.001) revealed a single factor with an eigenvalue of 3.12, which explained 62.35% of the variance. The unidimensional and two bidimensional structures (present/past life satisfaction; achievement/acceptance) expressed excellent fit (χ2 (4-5) = 92.60-106.14, ps = 0.001; all CFIs = 0.994, ; TLI = 0.985-0.987, ; RMSEA = 0.052-0.056, ; SRMR = 0.013-0.014). Bifactor and second-order structures based on both two factor-structures did not converge. The three structures were invariant at the configural metric, scalar, and strict levels across age (<26, ≥26 years) while only the unidimensional SWLS was invariant at all levels across genders. Achievement/acceptance SWLS converged only in males while present/past life satisfaction converged only in females—the fit of both models was excellent, and the fit of the latter slightly improved when the errors of items 2 and 4 correlated.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the use of the SWLS as a single-factor instrument for comparative purposes. SWLS components (cognitive or experiential) are interpreted uniformly among different age groups while gender-specific convergence patterns suggest meaningful gender-related nuances in its dimensional expression—males and females differently conceptualize SWLS components. Research should explore theoretical mechanisms underlying differential structuring of life satisfaction and examine whether these gender-specific dimensional patterns replicate across cultures and longitudinal designs.
Conference/Value in Health Info
2026-05, ISPOR 2026, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Value in Health, Volume 29, Issue S6
Code
P48
Topic
Methodological & Statistical Research
Topic Subcategory
Confounding, Selection Bias Correction, Causal Inference, PRO & Related Methods
Disease
No Additional Disease & Conditions/Specialized Treatment Areas