Abstract
Background. Previous research (Tkach & Lyubomirsky, 2006) shows that there are eight general happiness-increasing strategies: social affiliation, partying, mental control, goal pursuit, passive leisure, active leisure, religion, and direct attempts. The present study investigates the factor structure of the happiness-increasing strategies scales (H-ISS) and their relationship to positive and negative affect.Method. The present study used participants’ (N = 1,050 and age mean = 34.21 sd = 12.73) responses to the H-ISS in structural equation modeling analyses. Affect was measured using the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule.Results. After small modifications we obtained a good model that contains the original eight factors/scales. Moreover, we found that women tend to use social affiliation, mental control, passive leisure, religion, and direct attempts more than men, while men preferred to engage in partying and clubbing more than women. The H-ISS explained significantly the variance of positive affect (R2 = .41) and the variance of negative affect (R2 = .27).Conclusions. Our study is an addition to previous research showing that the factor structure of the happiness-increasing strategies is valid and reliable. However, due to the model fitting issues that arise in the present study, we give some suggestions for improving the instrument.
Highlights
Happiness is of main interest for psychologists who study the strengths and the positive aspects of humanity
These prevented activities scale was not part of the original eight scales found by Tkach & Lyubomirsky (2006). These two studies were inconsistent and showed mixed results with respect to gender differences. Both studies showed that females reported using communal strategies (i.e., Social Affiliation) more often than males, but while American males reported engaging more frequently in strategies related to agency (i.e., Active Leisure) and suppression (i.e., Mental Control) compared to American females (Tkach & Lyubomirsky, 2006), Swedish females scored higher than Swedish males in all of these strategies (Nima, Archer & Garcia, 2013)
Reliability and correlations The factors derived by the analysis showed good reliabilities (Cronbach’s alphas between .70 to .77) for five of the happiness-increasing strategies scales: social interaction, partying and clubbing, instrumental goal pursuit, religion and direct attempts
Summary
Happiness is of main interest for psychologists who study the strengths and the positive aspects of humanity. These two studies were inconsistent and showed mixed results with respect to gender differences Both studies showed that females reported using communal strategies (i.e., Social Affiliation) more often than males, but while American males reported engaging more frequently in strategies related to agency (i.e., Active Leisure) and suppression (i.e., Mental Control) compared to American females (Tkach & Lyubomirsky, 2006), Swedish females scored higher than Swedish males in all of these strategies (Nima, Archer & Garcia, 2013). These mixed and inconsistent results might mirror cultural and age differences between the American and Swedish sample. Due to the model fitting issues that arise in the present study, we give some suggestions for improving the instrument
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