Homework structural equation modeling with MPLUS. 2013

Children’s subjective well being

Introduction

Casas et al. (2012) tested a variety of life satisfaction scales on a sample of n=1,250 12 to 16-year-old children. A common problem in life satisfaction scales built around satisfaction with life domains (e.g. satisfaction with work, marriage, material well-being and the like) is that relevant life domains vary with age and thus the same scales are difficult to apply to children and the general population. The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS, Diener, 1985) includes 5 items which are not related to particular domains and are thus context free and hopefully suitable for all ages. Responses were coded from 0 (completely disagree) to 10 (completely agree). Several Spanish adaptations exist. The one used can be backtranslated into English as follows.

English back-translation
Item 1 / My life, in almost all aspects, corresponds to that which I aspire to
Item 2 / The conditions I live in are good
Item 3 / I am satisfied with my life
Item 4 / So far I have achieved things that were important to me
Item 5* / If I was born again, I would change quite a lot of things in my life

* Item 5 was reverse scored (0 completely agree, 10 completely disagree).

The scale is not without critics. Item 5 has been pointed out as problematic by some authors, even suggesting that it might reflect traits other than well-being (Veenhoven, 2009). High scores may reflect more of a conformist personality than personal well-being. People evaluating new experiences may be happy with their lives but not want to repeat the same experiences – considering new experiences to be more desirable. This may be true for many young people during adolescence.

References

Casas, F., Coenders, G., González, M., Malo, S., Bertran, I., Figuer, C. (2012): Testing the Relationship Between Parents’ and Their Children’s Subjective Well-Being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 13, 6, 1031–1051.

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Diener, E., Emmons, R., Larsen, R., & Smith, H.L. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49 (1), 71-75.

Veenhoven, R. (2009). Medidas de felicidad nacional bruta. Intervención Psicosocial, 18, 3, 279-299.

Exercise

Use the data file naloga2012mplus.dat

Variable order in the file is:item1 item2 item3 item4 item5 gender(dummy coded variable: 0 male; 1 female) age (years). The missing value code is 99 for all variables. The sample was simple random.

We are interested in a model predicting child well-being (cwb) from two exogenous variables measured without error: age and gender.

Write a short (about 5 pages) paper with the following:

1)Fit a one-dimension confirmatory factor analysis model on item1 item2 item3 item4 item5. Briefly comment on the chosen estimation method.

2)Modify the model as needed until a reasonably good fit is obtained and indicators have good measurement properties. Briefly discuss the modifications carried out.

3)Briefly comment on reliability and validity of each item.

4)Refit thefinal model in step 2 as a complete SEM in which child well being is explained by age and gender. Interpret relationships.