Abstract
PurposeWe introduce the Pemberton Happiness Index (PHI), a new integrative measure of well-being in seven languages, detailing the validation process and presenting psychometric data. The scale includes eleven items related to different domains of remembered well-being (general, hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well-being) and ten items related to experienced well-being (i.e., positive and negative emotional events that possibly happened the day before); the sum of these items produces a combined well-being index.MethodsA distinctive characteristic of this study is that to construct the scale, an initial pool of items, covering the remembered and experienced well-being domains, were subjected to a complete selection and validation process. These items were based on widely used scales (e.g., PANAS, Satisfaction With Life Scale, Subjective Happiness Scale, and Psychological Well-Being Scales). Both the initial items and reference scales were translated into seven languages and completed via Internet by participants (N = 4,052) aged 16 to 60 years from nine countries (Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and USA).ResultsResults from this initial validation study provided very good support for the psychometric properties of the PHI (i.e., internal consistency, a single-factor structure, and convergent and incremental validity).ConclusionsGiven the PHI’s good psychometric properties, this simple and integrative index could be used as an instrument to monitor changes in well-being. We discuss the utility of this integrative index to explore well-being in individuals and communities.
Highlights
Perceived well-being is of great importance for most human beings
There is cultural variation in the relevance assigned to happiness, a positive evaluation of one’s own life in conjunction with a state of positive emotions is universally valued as a significant component of a good life [1]
We propose an integrative measure of well-being with the objective of providing an index that incorporates the most relevant domains of well-being indicated in the literature as well as different timeframes of assessment
Summary
Perceived well-being is of great importance for most human beings. there is cultural variation in the relevance assigned to happiness, a positive evaluation of one’s own life in conjunction with a state of positive emotions is universally valued as a significant component of a good life [1]. Assessment of well-being is crucial for validating theories and models of well-being [2], and measuring the outcome of positive interventions, clinical interventions [3,4]. Short and there is an increasingly wide array of solid measures that independently cover different components of well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, positive emotions, psychological functioning, and social well-being) [2,5,6], there is still a need for brief, comprehensive measures that can be used to make rapid, reliable, and valid assessments [7]. We propose an integrative measure of well-being with the objective of providing an index that incorporates the most relevant domains of well-being indicated in the literature as well as different timeframes of assessment. We will explain our rationale for the new measure, describe its main components, which are derived from major theories of well-being [12,13], and justify these components
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