Factor structure of Ryff’s psychological well-being scales in Swedish female and male white-collar workers

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the structure of a Swedish translation of Ryff’s psychological well-being scales covering self-acceptance, positive relations, autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth and purpose in life. Moreover, the consistency of previously reported age and gender profiles of psychological well-being was examined. Analyses were based on data from 1260 white-collar workers aged 32–58 years. The internal consistency coefficients of the translated scales were higher than that of the original Ryff scales. Further confirmatory factor analyses replicated previous findings showing that the proposed six-factor model with a single second-order super-factor had better fit than the single factor model. Besides confirming previously reported age and gender profiles, the study showed age differences in self-acceptance and gender differences in environmental mastery and purpose in life but not in personal growth. The present findings clearly demonstrate the adequacy of the Swedish version of the Ryff scales in female and male white-collar workers.