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Psicothema was founded in Asturias (northern Spain) in 1989, and is published jointly by the Psychology Faculty of the University of Oviedo and the Psychological Association of the Principality of Asturias (Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos del Principado de Asturias).
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Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS)by country, gender and age

Igor Esnaola1, Manuel Benito1, Iratxe Antonio-Agirre1, John Freeman2 and Marta Sarasa1

1 Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea and
2 Queen’s University (Canada)

Background: Although the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is the most widely used instrument to measure life satisfaction with its validation having been carried out across ages and countries, few studies have analyzed SWLS measurement cross-cultural invariance with adolescents. With respect to Spanish adolescents, measurement invariance across gender has not been found and the one-factor structure has not been confirmed in Mexican adolescents through Structural Equation Modeling. Method: The main purpose of this study was to explore the measurement invariance of the SWLS in a sample of 701 adolescents (Mage = 14.93, SD = 1.83), 47.1% boys and 52.9% girls, from two different countries: Spain (74.2%) and Mexico (25.8%). A multigroup confirmatory factorial analysis is performed to test the invariance of the unifactorial structure. of SWLS with respect to the variables country, gender and age. Results: Results support a single-factor structure as well as the internal consistency of the SWLS. Similarly, the tests of measurement invariance support its strict invariance regarding country and gender, and strong invariance regarding age. Conclusions: These results suggest that the SWLS is a useful single-factor measure of life satisfaction in Spanish and Mexican adolescents.

Invarianza de la Escala de Satisfacción con la Vida (SWLS) en función del país, del sexo y la edad. Antecedentes: aunque la Escala de Satisfacción con la Vida (SWLS) es el instrumento más utilizado para medir la satisfacción con la vida y su validación se ha llevado a cabo en diferentes edades y países, pocos estudios han analizado la invarianza intercultural del SWLS en la adolescencia; con respecto a los adolescentes españoles, no se ha confirmado la invarianza en función del sexo y la estructura unifactorial no ha sido confirmada en adolescentes mexicanos a través de modelos de ecuaciones estructurales. Método: el objetivo principal de este estudio fue explorar la invarianza del SWLS en una muestra de 701 adolescentes (M = 14,93, DT = 1,83), 47,1% varones y 52,9% mujeres de dos países: España (74,2%) y México (25,8%). Se realiza un análisis factorial confirmatorio multigrupo para probar la invarianza  de la estructura unifactorial. de SWLS. Resultados: los resultados apoyan la estructura de un solo factor, así como la consistencia interna del SWLS. Del mismo modo, los resultados apoyan la invarianza estricta respecto al país y el sexo, y la invarianza fuerte respecto a la edad. Conclusiones: estos resultados sugieren que el SWLS es una escala unifactorial útil para la medida de la satisfacción con la vida en adolescentes españoles y mexicanos.

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Impact factor 2022:  JCR WOS 2022:  FI = 3.6 (Q2);  JCI = 1.21 (Q1) / SCOPUS 2022:  SJR = 1.097;  CiteScore = 6.4 (Q1)