Divergent/Discriminant
Renn et al. (2009) reported that the PWI was weakly correlated with the SPWB scales of autonomy (r5.28),
personal growth (r5.22), and purpose in life (r5.17) in an Austrian sample ( N5573 college students) .
Construct/Factor Analytic
Cummins et al. (2003) reported results of a principal components analysis (with oblimin rotation) based on the
intercorrelations of the seven domain-based items of the PWI, as well as three additional items from the National
Wellbeing Index (NWI; i.e., economic situation, state of the environment, social conditions). This analysis yielded
two components with one representing all seven PWI items and another representing the three items of the NWI.
The loadings of the PWI items ranged from .51 to .72. The two indices (i.e., PWI and NWI) correlated positively
(r5.44). The items of the 8-domain version also consistently form a single factor accounting for about 50% of the
variance ( International Wellbeing Group, 2013 ).
Criterion/Predictive
According to Cummins et al. (2003) , on the domain level, satisfaction with standard of living emerged as the
most substantial predictor ( β5.32) of overall satisfaction, followed by satisfaction with achievement and relation-
ships with β5.20 and β5.19, respectively. Satisfaction with health, future security, and community also emerged
as significant predictors of overall satisfaction with β5.14,β5.10, and β5.08, respectively. Satisfaction with
safety did not contribute to explaining variance in satisfaction with life as a whole, but it contributed to predict-
ing other variables (e.g., social capital, National Wellbeing Index, life in Australia).
Location
Cummins, R. A., Eckersley, R., Pallant, J., Van Vugt, J., & Misajon, R. (2003). Developing a national index of
subjective wellbeing: The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index. Social Indicators Research ,64, 159/C0190.
International Wellbeing Group (2013) .Personal Wellbeing Index: 5th Edition . Melbourne, Australia: Australian
Centre on Quality of Life, Deakin University. Source: www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol/iwbg/wellbeing-
index/index.php (Retrieved May 9, 2014).
Results and Comments
Research into the psychometric properties of the PWI has been somewhat sparse, but the findings to date
are promising. The PWI seems to be useful for a broad age-range from younger adults to elderly people (18 to
761years). For young people, a pre-school version (PWI-PS; Cummins & Lau, 2005a ), and a school-children and
adolescents’ version (PWI-SC; Cummins & Lau, 2005b ) have been developed. Furthermore, a version has been
developed for individuals with intellectual disabilities, the PWI-ID ( Cummins & Lau, 2005c ).
As the PWI is a brief measure of subjective quality of life, it is useful for several research purposes, but it also
may be useful for applied professionals in different areas (e.g., counseling, program evaluation). Like the interna-
tionally used SWLS ( Diener et al., 1985 ), the PWI has been used in several languages as a brief scale assessing sat-
isfaction with life as a whole and domain-specific satisfaction in adults.
PERSONAL WELLBEING INDEX
The following questions ask how satisfied you feel,
on a scale from zero to 10. Zero means you feel no satis-
faction at all and 10 means you feel completely satisfied.
Part I (Optional item): Satisfaction
with Life as a Whole
Thinking about your own life and personal circum-
stances, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?
Part II: Personal Wellbeing Index
How satisfied are you with ...1.your standard of living?
2.your health?
3.what you are achieving in life?
4.your personal relationships?
5.how safe you feel?
6.feeling part of your community?
7.your future security?
8.your spirituality or religion?
Note: Source: www.deakin.edu.au/research/acqol/
iwbg/wellbeing-index/index.php (Retrieved May 9,
2014). Reproduced with permission.112 5. MEASURES OF LIFE SATISFACTION ACROSS THE LIFESPAN
II. EMOTIONAL DISPOSITIONS