This article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.

The Satisfaction with Life Scale

This article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is Suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.

The Satisfaction With Life Scale.

Reigning measures of psychological well-being have little theoretical grounding, despite an extensive literature on the contours of positive functioning. Aspects of well-being derived from this literature (i.e., self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth) were operationalized. Three hundred and twenty-one men and women, divided among young, middle-aged, and older adults, rated themselves on these measures along with six instruments prominent in earlier studies (i.e., affect balance, life satisfaction, self-esteem, morale, locus of control, depression). Results revealed that positive relations with others, autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth were not strongly tied to prior assessment indexes, thereby supporting the claim that key aspects of positive functioning have not been represented in the empirical arena. Furthermore, age profiles revealed a more differentiated pattern of well-being than is evident in prior research.

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Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being.

The literature on subjective well-being (SWB), including happiness, life satisfaction, and positive affect, is reviewed in three areas: measurement, causal factors, and theory. Psychometric data on single-item and multi-item subjective well-being scales are presented, and the measures are compared. Measuring various components of subjective well-being is discussed. In terms of causal influences, research findings on the demographic correlates of SWB are evaluated, as well as the findings on other influences such as health, social contact, activity, and personality. A number of theoretical approaches to happiness are presented and discussed: telic theories, associationistic models, activity theories, judgment approaches, and top-down versus bottom-up conceptions.

Subjective Well-Being

https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2651&context=soss_research

Subjective Well-being

Sociological Interpretation of Education

Christopher Jencks, in his book on inequality, ' examines skeptically the belief that schooling operates as a major force to reduce the inequality with which children are born. He concludes that "the character of a school's output depends largely on a single input, namely the characteristics of the entering children. Everything else the school budget, its policies, the characteristics of the teachers --is either secondary or completely irrelevant" (p. 256). No wonder the reviews of this book appearing in educational journals have been overwhelmingly negative. Furthermore, the liberal press has reacted against it. In an editorial the New York Times says that the book would be useful if its authors were content to document the limitations of the school system as an instrument of social reform. "Regrettably, however, the report has a serious flaw as a policy guide for either educational or social reform. It proceeds on the false premise that there is an inherent contradiction between the belief in equality of opportunity for all and the acknowledgment of great individual differences in competence, aspirations, and effort." 2 I have seen nine reviews or editorials commenting on the book. Seven are critical and negative. One is neutral. One is laudatory. This last is a column by right-wing commentator James J. Kilpatrick who says Jencks has told the truth about education, which is an "unpardonable sin" in the eyes of "the educationists." He says Jencks has "debunked" the assumption that if schools are made substantially equal, poverty can be greatly reduced. Thus Jencks gives support to the rightists who favor tax reduction through reducing school expenditures. If schooling does not pay off by increasing the incomes of the poor, why spend public money on it?

Robert J. Havighurst

Papers

Sociological Interpretation of Education

Opportunity, Equity, or Equality

The sociologic meaning of aging.

Problems of sampling and interviewing in studies of old people.

The educational mission of the church