Predictive and Incremental Validity of Global and Domain-Based Adolescent Life Satisfaction Reports

Abstract

Concurrent, predictive, and incremental validity of global and domain-based adolescent life satisfaction reports are examined with respect to internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS), Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS), and measures of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems from the Youth Self-Report of the Child Behavior Checklist are administered to secondary school students on three occasions, each separated by 1 year. As expected, concurrent and predictive validity correlations between the SLSS and MSLSS total scores and internalizing and externalizing behaviors are modest to moderate in magnitude, with correlations declining but remaining statistically significant across time. Results also reveal that the domain-based scores on the MSLSS (e.g., family, school) demonstrated incremental validity in relation to adolescents' global life satisfaction reports; that is, various domain-based scores contribute statistically significant variance above and beyond the variance associated with the global scores, depending on the criterion. Implications for assessments of life satisfaction among adolescents are discussed.