Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups

Swami, Viren, Stieger, Stefan, Voracek, Martin, Aavik, Toivo, Abdollahpour Ranjbar, Hamed, Adebayo, Sulaiman Olanrewaju, Afhami, Reza, Ahmed, Oli, Aimé, Annie, Akel, Marwan, Al Halbusi, Hussam, Alexias, George, Ali, Khawla F., Alp-Dal, Nursel, Alsalhani, Anas B., Álvarez-Solas, Sara, Amaral, Ana Carolina Soares, Andrianto, Sonny, Aspden, Trefor, Argyrides, Marios, Aruta, John Jamir Benzon R., Atkin, Stephen, Ayandele, Olusola, Baceviciene, Migle, Bahbouh, Radvan, Ballesio, Andrea, Barron, David, Bellard, Ashleigh, Bender, Sóley Sesselja, Beydaǧ, Kerime Derya, Birovljević, Gorana, Blackburn, Marie-Ève, Borja-Alvarez, Teresita, Borowiec, Joanna, Bozogáňová, Miroslava, Bratland-Sanda, Solfrid, Browning, Matthew H. E. M., Brytek-Matera, Anna, Burakova, Marina, Çakır-Koçak, Yeliz, Camacho, Pablo, Camilleri, Vittorio Emanuele, Cazzato, Valentina, Cerea, Silvia, Chaiwutikornwanich, Apitchaya, Chaleeraktrakoon, Trawin, Chambers, Tim, Chen, Qing-Wei, Chen, Xin, Chien, Chin-Lung, Chobthamkit, Phatthanakit, Choompunuch, Bovornpot, Compte, Emilio J., Corrigan, Jennifer, Cosmas, Getrude, Cowden, Richard G., Czepczor-Bernat, Kamila, Czub, Marcin, da Silva, Wanderson Roberto, Dadfar, Mahboubeh, Dalley, Simon E., Dany, Lionel, Datu, Jesus Alfonso D., de Carvalho, Pedro Henrique Berbert, Coelho, Gabriel Lins de Holanda, De Jesus, Avila Odia S., Debbabi, Sonia Harzallah, Dhakal, Sandesh, Di Bernardo, Francesca, Dimitrova, Donka D., Dion, Jacinthe, Dixson, Barnaby, Donofrio, Stacey M., Drysch, Marius, Du, Hongfei, Dzhambov, Angel M., El-Jor, Claire, Enea, Violeta, Eskin, Mehmet, Farbod, Farinaz, Farrugia, Lorleen, Fian, Leonie, Fisher, Maryanne L., Folwarczny, Michał, Frederick, David A., Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, Matthew, Furnham, Adrian, García, Antonio Alías, Geller, Shulamit, Ghisi, Marta, Ghorbani, Alireza, Gomez Martinez, Maria Angeles, Gradidge, Sarah, Graf, Sylvie, Grano, Caterina, Gyene, Gyöngyvér, Hallit, Souheil, Hamdan, Motasem, Handelzalts, Jonathan E., Hanel, Paul H. P., Hawks, Steven R., Hekmati, Issa, Helmy, Mai, Hill, Tetiana, Hina, Farah, Holenweger, Geraldine, Hřebíčková, Martina, Ijabadeniyi, Olasupo Augustine, Imam, Asma, İnce, Başak, Irrazabal, Natalia, Jankauskiene, Rasa, Jiang, Ding-Yu, Jiménez-Borja, Micaela, Jiménez-Borja, Verónica, Johnson, Evan M., Jovanović, Veljko, Jović, Marija, Jović, Marko, Junqueira, Alessandra Costa Pereira, Kahle, Lisa-Marie, Kantanista, Adam, Karakiraz, Ahmet, Karkin, Ayşe Nur, Kasten, Erich, Khatib, Salam, Khieowan, Nuannut, Kimong, Patricia Joseph, Kiropoulos, Litza, Knittel, Joshua, Kohli, Neena, Koprivnik, Mirjam, Kospakov, Aituar, Król-Zielińska, Magdalena, Krug, Isabel, Kuan, Garry, Kueh, Yee Cheng, Kujan, Omar, Kukić, Miljana, Kumar, Sanjay, Kumar, Vipul, Lamba, Nishtha, Lauri, Mary Anne, Laus, Maria Fernanda, LeBlanc, Liza April, Lee, Hyejoo J., Lipowska, Małgorzata, Lipowski, Mariusz, Lombardo, Caterina, Lukács, Andrea, Maïano, Christophe, Malik, Sadia, Manjary, Mandar, Márquez Baldó, Lidia, Martinez-Banfi, Martha, Massar, Karlijn, Matera, Camilla, McAnirlin, Olivia, Mebarak, Moisés Roberto, Mechri, Anwar, Meireles, Juliana Fernandes Filgueiras, Mesko, Norbert, Mills, Jacqueline, Miyairi, Maya, Modi, Ritu, Modrzejewska, Adriana, Modrzejewska, Justyna, Mulgrew, Kate E., Myers, Taryn A., Namatame, Hikari, Nassani, Mohammad Zakaria, Nerini, Amanda, Neto, Félix, Neto, Joana, Neves, Angela Nogueira, Ng, Siu-Kuen, Nithiya, Devi, O, Jiaqing, Obeid, Sahar, Oda-Montecinos, Camila, Olapegba, Peter Olamakinde, Olonisakin, Tosin Tunrayo, Omar, Salma Samir, Örlygsdóttir, Brynja, Özsoy, Emrah, Otterbring, Tobias, Pahl, Sabine, Panasiti, Maria Serena, Park, Yonguk, Patwary, Muhammad Mainuddin, Pethö, Tatiana, Petrova, Nadezhda, Pietschnig, Jakob, Pourmahmoud, Sadaf, Prabhu, Vishnunarayan Girishan, Poštuvan, Vita, Prokop, Pavol, Ramseyer Winter, Virginia L., Razmus, Magdalena, Ru, Taotao, Rupar, Mirjana, Sahlan, Reza N., Salah Hassan, Mohammad, Šalov, Anđela, Sapkota, Saphal, Sarfo, Jacob Owusu, Sawamiya, Yoko, Schaefer, Katrin, Schulte-Mecklenbeck, Michael, Seekis, Veya, Selvi, Kerim, Sharifi, Mehdi, Shrivastava, Anita, Siddique, Rumana Ferdousi, Sigurdsson, Valdimar, Silkane, Vineta, Šimunić, Ana, Singh, Govind, Slezáčková, Alena, Sundgot-Borgen, Christine, Ten Hoor, Gill, Tevichapong, Passagorn, Tipandjan, Arun, Todd, Jennifer, Togas, Constantinos, Tonini, Fernando, Tovar-Castro, Juan Camilo, Trangsrud, Lise Katrine Jepsen, Tripathi, Pankaj, Tudorel, Otilia, Tylka, Tracy L., Uyzbayeva, Anar, Vally, Zahir, Vanags, Edmunds, Vega, Luis Diego, Vicente-Arruebarrena, Aitor, Vidal-Mollón, Jose, Vilar, Roosevelt, Villegas, Hyxia, Vintilă, Mona, Wallner, Christoph, White, Mathew P., Whitebridge, Simon, Windhager, Sonja, Wong, Kah Yan, Yau, Eric Kenson, Yamamiya, Yuko, Yeung, Victoria Wai Lan, Zanetti, Marcelo Callegari, Zawisza, Magdalena, Zeeni, Nadine, Zvaríková, Martina, Tran, Ulrich S. and Neto, Félix (2025) Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups. PLoS ONE, 20 (1 Janu): e0313107. pp. 1-34. ISSN 1932-6203

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The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used self-report measure of subjective well-being, but studies of its measurement invariance across a large number of nations remain limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset–with data collected between 2020 and 2022 –to assess measurement invariance of the SWLS across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups (N = 56,968). All participants completed the SWLS under largely uniform conditions. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that configural and metric invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional SWLS model has universal applicability. Full scalar invariance was achieved across gender identities and age groups. Based on alignment optimisation methods, partial scalar invariance was achieved across all but three national groups and across all languages represented in the BINS. There were large differences in latent SWLS means across nations and languages, but negligible-to-small differences across gender identities and age groups. Across nations, greater life satisfaction was significantly associated with greater financial security and being in a committed relationship or married. The results of this study suggest that the SWLS largely assesses a common unidimensional construct of life satisfaction irrespective of respondent characteristics (i.e., national group, gender identities, and age group) or survey presentation (i.e., survey language). This has important implications for the assessment of life satisfaction across nations and provides information that will be useful for practitioners aiming to promote subjective well-being internationally.

Item Type	Article
Additional information	© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords	adolescent, adult, age factors, aged, factor analysis, statistical, female, gender identity, humans, language, male, middle aged, personal satisfaction, methods, quality of life, self report, surveys and questionnaires, young adult, general
Date Deposited	15 May 2025 15:49
Last Modified	31 May 2025 00:47