CHAPTER
5
Measures of Life Satisfaction
Across the Lifespan
Marco Weber, Claudia Harzer, E. Scott Huebner and Kimberly J. Hills
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
The notion of life satisfaction or perceived quality of life has been of central importance to several areas of
inquiry including gerontology, mental health, positive psychology, quality of life, and social indicators research.
It is frequently used as a criterion measure in studies of the determinants of optimal well-being among adults
and children ( Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener 2005 ). Studies have also suggested that it is not only an important
psychological ‘outcome’, but it is also an important determinant of a variety of adaptive life outcomes, such as
health, longevity, quality relationships, and vocational success ( Lyubomirsky et al., 2005 ). In addition to research
applications, practical applications have been numerous as well, including clinical ( Frisch, 2006 ), school
(Gilman & Huebner, 2003 ), and business ( Judge, Thoresen, Bono, & Patton 2001 ) settings. Diener (2000) has issued
a call for nations to undertake the development of ongoing national indexes of well-being, including measures of
life satisfaction as core indicators.
Since Andrews and Robinson’s (1991) contribution to the last edition of this text, research on the measurement
and correlates of life satisfaction and related variables has increased dramatically. This increase has included sub-
stantial attention to a previously neglected population, that is, children and adolescents. Thus, research efforts
are now being undertaken across almost the entire lifespan. Consistent with the review of Andrews and
Robinson (1991) , the research continues to be ‘extensive, broad-ranging, and conceptually diffuse’ (p. 61).
Despite this widespread use of the construct in research and practice contexts, challenges remain with its defi-
nition, measurement, and interpretation. With respect to its definition, life satisfaction is often confused with pos-
itive affect (aka ‘happiness’) as well as the absence of negative affect. These constructs are often used
interchangeably in the literature, yet they are already differentiable (using factor analytic procedures) by children
as young as age 8 years ( Huebner, 1991a ). On the one hand, positive affect refers to individuals’ experience of fre-
quent positive emotions, such as joy, interest, and excitement, while negative affect refers to individuals’ experi-
ence of frequent negative emotions, such as guilt, anxiety, and anger. On the other hand, life satisfaction is
typically defined as a cognitive (vs. emotional) judgment of the positivity of one’s life as a whole and/or with
specific life domains (e.g., family, work, school) ( Diener, 1994 ). In addition to being conceptually and statistically
distinguishable, these constructs show different correlates and can diverge across time ( Diener, 1994 ).
Furthermore, life satisfaction reports tend to be more reliable across time ( Diener & Larsen, 1984 ). Thus, the over-
all conclusion from the extant body of research suggests that the constructs of life satisfaction and affect are
related somewhat, but show considerable discriminant validity, indicating the need to measure them separately
in studies of adult and child well-being and quality of life. Within the present chapter we will focus on this more
cognitive element of well-being, that is, on the assessment of life satisfaction.
Some measurement and interpretation issues also remain unresolved. Most measures of life satisfaction have
been derived from one of three separate theoretical models. Some measures are based on a ‘bottom up’ model, in
which a ‘general’ life satisfaction score is calculated by summing responses to a variety of domain-specific items
(e.g., my family life is good, I enjoy going to work, school is fun). In some cases, weighted responses are deter-
mined based on an individual’s judgment of the importance of the particular domain. An example of a ‘bottom
101Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Constructs.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-386915-9.00005-X ©2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.