The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used self-report measure of subjective well-being, but studies of its measurement invariance across a large number of nations remain limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset–with data collected between 2020 and 2022 –to assess measurement invariance of the SWLS across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups (N = 56,968). All participants completed the SWLS under largely uniform conditions. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that configural and metric invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional SWLS model has universal applicability. Full scalar invariance was achieved across gender identities and age groups. Based on alignment optimisation methods, partial scalar invariance was achieved across all but three national groups and across all languages represented in the BINS. There were large differences in latent SWLS means across nations and languages, but negligible-to-small differences across gender identities and age groups. Across nations, greater life satisfaction was significantly associated with greater financial security and being in a committed relationship or married. The results of this study suggest that the SWLS largely assesses a common unidimensional construct of life satisfaction irrespective of respondent characteristics (i.e., national group, gender identities, and age group) or survey presentation (i.e., survey language). This has important implications for the assessment of life satisfaction across nations and provides information that will be useful for practitioners aiming to promote subjective well-being internationally.
Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups / Viren Swami, Stefan Stieger, Martin VoracekI, Toivo Aavik, Hamed Abdollahpour Ranjbar, Sulaiman Olanrewaju Adebayo, Reza AfhamiID, Oli AhmedID, Annie Aime´, Marwan Akel, Hussam Al Halbusi, George Alexias, Khawla F. AliI, Nursel Alp-Dal, Anas B. Alsalhani, Sara A´ lvarez-Solas, Ana Carolina Soares Amaral, Sonny Andrianto, Trefor Aspden, Marios ArgyridesI, John Jamir Benzon R. Aruta, Stephen Atkin, Olusola Ayandele, Migle Baceviciene, Radvan Bahbouh, Andrea Ballesio, David Barron, Ashleigh Bellard, So´ ley Sesselja Bender, Kerime Derya Beydagˇ, Gorana Birovljević, Marie-E` ve Blackburn, Teresita Borja-Alvarez, Joanna Borowiec, Miroslava Bozoga´ ňova´, Solfrid Bratland-Sanda, Matthew H. E. M. Browning, Anna Brytek-Matera, Marina Burakova, Yeliz C¸ akır-Koc, Pablo Camacho, Vittorio Emanuele Camilleri, Valentina Cazzato, Silvia Cerea, Apitchaya ChaiwutikornwanichI, Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon, Tim Chambers, Qing-Wei Chen, Xin Chen, Chin-Lung Chien, Phatthanakit Chobthamkit, Bovornpot Choompunuch, Emilio J. Compte, Jennifer Corrigan, Getrude Cosmas, Richard G. Cowden, Kamila Czepczor-Bernat, Marcin Czub, Wanderson Roberto da Silva, Mahboubeh Dadfar, Simon E. Dalley, Lionel Dany, Jesus Alfonso D. Datu, Pedro Henrique Berbert de Carvalho, Gabriel Lins de Holanda Coelho, Avila Odia S. De Jesus, Sonia Harzallah Debbabi, Sandesh Dhakal, Francesca Di Bernardo, Donka D. Dimitrova, Jacinthe Dion, Barnaby Dixson, Stacey M. Donofrio, Marius Drysch, Hongfei Du, Angel M. Dzhambov, Claire El-Jor, Violeta Enea, Mehmet Eskin, Farinaz Farbod, Lorleen Farrugia, Leonie Fian, Maryanne L. Fisher, Michał Folwarczny, David A. Frederick, Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, Adrian Furnham, Antonio Alı´as Garcı´, Shulamit Geller, Marta Ghisi, Alireza Ghorbani, Maria Angeles Gomez Martinez, Sarah Gradidge, Sylvie Graf, Caterina Grano, Gyo¨ ngyve´ r Gyene, Souheil Hallit, Motasem Hamdan, Jonathan E. Handelzalts, Paul H. P. Hanel, Steven R. Hawks, Issa Hekmati, Mai Helmy, Tetiana Hill, Farah Hina, Geraldine Holenweger, Martina Hřebı´čkova, Olasupo Augustine Ijabadeniyi, Asma Imam, Başak İnce, Natalia Irrazabal, Rasa Jankauskiene, Ding-Yu Jiang, Micaela Jime´ nez-Borja, Vero´ nica Jime´nez-Borja, Evan M. Johnson, Veljko Jovanović, Marija Jović, Marko Jović, Alessandra Costa Pereira Junqueira, Lisa-Marie Kahle, Adam Kantanista, Ahmet Karakiraz, Ayşe Nur Karkin, Erich Kasten, Salam Khatib, Nuannut Khieowan, Patricia Joseph Kimong, Litza Kiropoulos, Joshua Knittel, Neena Kohli, Mirjam Koprivnik, Aituar Kospakov, Magdalena Kro´ l-Zielińska, Isabel Krug, Garry Kuan, Yee Cheng Kueh, Omar Kujan, Miljana Kukić, Sanjay Kumar, Vipul Kumar, Nishtha Lamba, Mary Anne Lauri, Maria Fernanda Laus, Liza April LeBlanc, Hyejoo J. Lee, Małgorzata Lipowska, Mariusz Lipowski, Caterina Lombardo, Andrea Luka´cs, Christophe Maïano, Sadia Malik, Mandar Manjary, Lidia Ma´rquez Baldo´, Martha Martinez-Banfi, Karlijn Massar, Camilla Matera, Olivia McAnirlin, Moise´ s Roberto Mebarak, Anwar Mechri, Juliana Fernandes Filgueiras Meireles, Norbert Mesko, Jacqueline Mills, Maya Miyairi, Ritu Modi, Adriana Modrzejewska, Justyna Modrzejewska, Kate E. Mulgrew, Taryn A. Myers, Hikari Namatame, Mohammad Zakaria Nassani, Amanda Nerini, Fe´lix Neto, Joana Neto, Angela Nogueira Neves, Siu-Kuen Ng, Devi Nithiya, Jiaqing O, Sahar Obeid, Camila Oda-Montecinos, Peter Olamakinde Olapegba, Tosin Tunrayo Olonisakin, Salma Samir Omar161, Brynja O¨ rlygsdo´ ttir31, Emrah O¨ zsoy, Tobias Otterbring, Sabine Pahl, Maria Serena Panasiti, Yonguk Park, Muhammad Mainuddin Patwary, Tatiana Petho¨, Nadezhda Petrova, Jakob Pietschnig, Sadaf PourmahmoudI, Vishnunarayan Girishan Prabhu, Vita Posˇ tuvan, Pavol Prokop, Virginia L. Ramseyer Winter, Magdalena Razmus, Taotao Ru, Mirjana Rupar, Reza N. Sahlan, Mohammad Salah Hassan, Anđela Sˇ alov, Saphal Sapkota, Jacob Owusu Sarfo, Yoko Sawamiya, Katrin Schaefer, Michael Schulte-Mecklenbeck, Veya Seekis, Kerim Selvi, Mehdi Sharifi, Anita Shrivastava, Rumana Ferdousi Siddique, Valdimar Sigurdsson, Vineta Silkane, Ana Sˇ imunić, Govind Singh, Alena Sleza´ čkova´, Christine Sundgot-Borgen, Gill Ten Hoor, Passagorn Tevichapong, Arun Tipandjan, Jennifer Todd, Constantinos Togas, Fernando Tonini, Juan Camilo Tovar-Castro, Lise Katrine Jepsen Trangsrud, Pankaj Tripathi, Otilia Tudorel, Tracy L. Tylka, Anar Uyzbayeva, Zahir Vally, Edmunds Vanags, Luis Diego Vega, Aitor Vicente-Arruebarrena, Jose Vidal-Mollo´, Roosevelt Vilar, Hyxia Villegas, Mona Vintilă, Christoph Wallner, Mathew P. White, Simon Whitebridge, Sonja Windhager, Kah Yan Wong, Eric Kenson Yau, Yuko Yamamiya, Victoria Wai Lan Yeung, Marcelo Callegari Zanetti, Magdalena Zawisza, Nadine Zeen, Martina Zvarı´kova´, Ulrich S. Tran. - In: PLOS ONE. - ISSN 1932-6203. - ELETTRONICO. - 20:(2025), pp. e0313107.1-e0313107.34. [10.1371/journal.pone.0313107]
Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups
Motasem Hamdan;Sanjay Kumar;Camilla Matera;Amanda Nerini;
2025
Abstract
The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used self-report measure of subjective well-being, but studies of its measurement invariance across a large number of nations remain limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset–with data collected between 2020 and 2022 –to assess measurement invariance of the SWLS across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups (N = 56,968). All participants completed the SWLS under largely uniform conditions. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that configural and metric invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional SWLS model has universal applicability. Full scalar invariance was achieved across gender identities and age groups. Based on alignment optimisation methods, partial scalar invariance was achieved across all but three national groups and across all languages represented in the BINS. There were large differences in latent SWLS means across nations and languages, but negligible-to-small differences across gender identities and age groups. Across nations, greater life satisfaction was significantly associated with greater financial security and being in a committed relationship or married. The results of this study suggest that the SWLS largely assesses a common unidimensional construct of life satisfaction irrespective of respondent characteristics (i.e., national group, gender identities, and age group) or survey presentation (i.e., survey language). This has important implications for the assessment of life satisfaction across nations and provides information that will be useful for practitioners aiming to promote subjective well-being internationally.
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