Examining the Psychometric Properties of a Modified Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale: A Rasch Measurement Approach

Abstract

Drawing on data from the second wave of the Children’s Worlds: International Survey of Children’s Well-Being, this study examined the psychometric properties of a modified Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS) using the Rasch measurement model in a sample of 1817 10- and 12-year-old children belonging to a highly collectivistic South Asian country, Nepal. Results of the study revealed that the modified SLSS data met the assumptions of the Rasch measurement model, and the internal structure of the modified SLSS represented a hierarchy of item difficulties. The modified SLSS items also exhibited adequate model-data fit, and they were found to be invariant across gender and age groups. Taken together, the modified SLSS is a psychometrically sound measure appropriate for assessing life satisfaction among Nepalese children.