What Is Satisfaction With Life?

1. Our Measure of Satisfaction With Life: The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) What Is Satisfaction With Life? Satisfaction With Life (SWL) is defined as one of the three components of subjective well-being (the other two being positive affect and negative affect). SWL is the cognitive element of subjective well-being: it relates to thoughts and judgements, rather than to feelings and emotions. Deciding how satisfied you are with your life involves comparing your life to a set of self-defined standards or criteria. This means that assessing SWL is a personal and subjective process: it must be judged by the individual her/himself. For instance, whilst a person’s friends may perceive the individual as having a very poor SWL (perhaps because they are elderly or infirm), these elements might have little influence on the individual's personal assessment of their own SWL. SWL can be measured in relation to specific elements of a person's life (e.g., their job, their relationships, etc.), or it can be measured globally (i.e., with regards to their life as a whole). Why Are We Measuring SWL In Our Study? SWL is an important mental health indicator. Our previous studies (e.g., Sani et al., 2012) have shown that it tends to correlate strongly with depression: people who are highly satisfied with life tend to have low levels of depression. Evidence from non-longitudinal studies (e.g., Sani et al., 2010; Sani et al., 2012) shows that the more participants identify with the social groups to which they belong (e.g., the family), the higher their levels of SWL tend to be. We intend to investigate the effect of group identification on SWL over time, using a longitudinal study design. How Are We Measuring SWL In Our Study? We are using the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) to measure SWL in our study (Diener et al., 1985). This is a five-item inventory, which assesses global satisfaction with life. Participants are asked to indicate the extent to which they agree with each of the five statements, using a 1 (I strongly disagree) to 7 (I strongly agree) scale. 1. In most ways my life is close to ideal. 2. The conditions of my life are excellent. 3. I am satisfied with my life. 4. So far I have gotten the important things I want in life. 5. If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing. For More Information: Email Prof. Fabio Sani: f.sani@dundee.ac.uk