Outcome Measure

The Satisfaction With Life Scale

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What it measures?

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) examines the extent to which a person is satisfied with their life overall (i.e. global life satisfaction). This outcome measure does not assess positive or negative affect, happiness, or satisfaction related to specific life domains. The evaluation of satisfaction with life is cognitive—and involves the person trading off good and bad aspects of their life (Beuningen, 2012). Although there has been some debate regarding the factor structure of the SWLS, multiple authors support a single-factor structure—or else conclude that interpretation of the total scale is justifiable, because additional dimensions are relatively minor (Arrindell, Heesink & Feij, 1999; Slocum-Gori, Zumbo, Michalos & Diener, 2009; for a review see Emerson, Guhm & Gadermann, 2017).

Who is it for?

Adults and adolescents aged 16 years and over (Jovanović, 2016)

Instrument Quality

The SWLS has demonstrated good psychometric properties in terms of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent and discriminant validity (Kjell & Diener, 2021). Research suggests that factor loadings, unique variances and factor variance are likely invariant across gender.

Structure

5 items
7-point Likert scale
Respondents must indicate how strongly (7 = “Strongly agree”; 1 = “Strongly disagree”) they agree with each item (e.g. “In most ways, my life is close to my ideal”).

Scoring instructions

Items responses are summed to derive a full-scale score.

Subscale	Item number
Full-scale (SWLS)	1,2,3,4,5

Score Interpretation

What higher scores mean?

Greater global satisfaction with life

How to assess symptom severity & change?

Description	Score Range
Extremely dissatisfied	5
Dissatisfied	10
Slightly dissatisfied	15
Slightly satisfied	20
Satisfied	25
Extremely satisfied	30
Maximum	35

Severity ranges

The developer of the SWLS has described the meaning of SWLS ranges in detail—in a non-published personal communication (Diener, 2006). These descriptions appear to be based on work by Pavot and Diener (1993) which summarised a large number of studies that employed diverse samples. The authors note that most community sample means fall between 23 and 28, or the range of slightly satisfied to satisfied. This level of satisfaction is in agreement with the frequent finding that in Western countries, a considerable number of respondents report wellbeing above the neutral point on a variety of measures. The selected ranges are widely used, however we could not find statistical evidence supporting their usage. We have chosen to report them—due to their utility and reputable source—but urge interpretive caution on a psychometrical level.

Reliable change and clinically significant improvement

Wampold et al (2001) conducted a meta analysis of psychotherapy outcome studies and noted that the average improvement was reflected in an effect size (ES) of .80. Because a change of 1 SD corresponds to an ES of 1.0, and .80 is considered to be a large ES, Wise (2004) concludes that a change of 1 SD is a defensible indicator of clinically significant change.

Mean

Sample	Mean	Comments
Clinical	14.4	Aishvarya and colleagues (2014) examed a sample of Malaysian clinical outpatients with psychiatric illnesses (n = 283), including mood disorders, anxiety disorders and co-morbid mood and anxiety disorders. The obtained mean reported in this study is higher than the SWLS mean values reported by Meyer and colleagues (2004), and more recently by Meule and Voderholzer (2020) in samples of patients with anxiety disorders, affective disorders, substance-use disorders and somatoform disorders—which ranged from approximately 14-19. In earlier work Pavot and Diener (1993) also reported a mean value of 14.4 (SD = 6.7) in a sample of clinical clients attending a psychological private practitioner (Friedman, 1999; personal communication). In this research life satisfaction at the beginning of therapy in 27 patients was measured. We have chosen to report this value, as it approximates the clinical sample means found in more recent research.
Normative	26.18	Arrindell, Heesink and Heij (199) examined a large Dutch sample of healthy young adults (N = 1775; females = 887; males = 888). The obtained mean of 26.18 is comparable to research by Pavot and Diener (1993) examining normative samples in Western countries—and is also similar to more recent research employing large community samples. For example, Hinz and colleagues (2018) obtained a mean of 26.46 (SD = 5.55) employing a German community sample with an age range of 18-80 years.

Standard Deviation

Sample	Mean	Comments
Clinical	6.7	Aishvarya and colleagues (2014) examed a sample of Malaysian clinical outpatients with psychiatric illnesses (n = 283), including mood disorders, anxiety disorders and co-morbid mood and anxiety disorders. The obtained mean reported in this study is higher than the SWLS mean values reported by Meyer and colleagues (2004), and more recently by Meule and Voderholzer (2020) in samples of patients with anxiety disorders, affective disorders, substance-use disorders and somatoform disorders—which ranged from approximately 14-19. In earlier work Pavot and Diener (1993) also reported a mean value of 14.4 (SD = 6.7) in a sample of clinical clients attending a psychological private practitioner (Friedman, 1999; personal communication). In this research life satisfaction at the beginning of therapy in 27 patients was measured. We have chosen to report this value, as it approximates the clinical sample means found in more recent research.
Normative	5.72	Arrindell, Heesink and Heij (199) examined a large Dutch sample of healthy young adults (N = 1775; females = 887; males = 888). The obtained mean of 26.18 is comparable to research by Pavot and Diener (1993) examining normative samples in Western countries—and is also similar to more recent research employing large community samples. For example, Hinz and colleagues (2018) obtained a mean of 26.46 (SD = 5.55) employing a German community sample with an age range of 18-80 years.

Reliability

Value	Comments
0.84	Pavot and colleagues (1991) reported a test-retest reliability of 0.84 over a 2-week period.

Instrument developers

Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of personality assessment, 49(1), 71-75

Refrences

*Arrindell, W. A., Heesink, J., & Feij, J. A. (1999). The satisfaction with life scale (SWLS): Appraisal with 1700 healthy young adults in The Netherlands. Personality and individual differences, 26(5), 815-826. * Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of personality assessment, 49(1), 71-75 *Jovanović, V. (2016). The validity of the Satisfaction with Life Scale in adolescents and a comparison with single-item life satisfaction measures: a preliminary study. Quality of life Research, 25, 3173-3180 *Hinz, A., Conrad, I., Schroeter, M. L., Glaesmer, H., Brähler, E., Zenger, M., ... & Herzberg, P. Y. (2018). Psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), derived from a large German community sample. Quality of Life Research, 27(6), 1661-1670. * Meule, A., & Voderholzer, U. (2020). Life satisfaction in persons with mental disorders. Quality of Life Research, 29, 3043-3052. *Meyer, C., Rumpf, H. J., Hapke, U., & John, U. (2004). Impact of psychiatric disorders in the general population: satisfaction with life and the influence of comorbidity and disorder duration. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 39, 435-441 *Pavot, W., Diener, E. D., Colvin, C. R., & Sandvik, E. (1991). Further validation of the Satisfaction with Life Scale: Evidence for the cross-method convergence of well-being measures. Journal of personality assessment, 57(1), 149-161. * Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the satisfaction with life scale. Psychological assessment, 5(2), 164.

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SWLS