School Children's Happiness Inventory: The Validity and Reliability Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to carry out the validity and the reliability study of the School Children’s Happiness Inventory. 358 Elementary school students, 195 (55%) of which were female and 163 (45%) male, participated in the research. The School Children’s Happiness Inventory, Depression Scale for Children and Scale of Positive and Negative Experience were used as data collection instruments in the research. For the validity study of the inventory, structure validity and criterion dependent validity were checked. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated to identify reliability. At the end of the exploratory factor analysis carried out in order to determine the factor structure of the inventory, the inventory was composed of two factors, as is present in its original form. According to the confirmatory factor analysis, the fit indexes of the scale were determined to be at the acceptable level. At the end of the criterion dependent validity study, it was seen that there was a negatively significant relationship between the School Children’s Happiness Inventory and depression and negative experiences, and a positively significant relationship between the inventory and the positive experiences. At the end of the reliability study, it was seen that Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the inventory was quite high. As a result of this validity and reliability study, it can be said that the inventory is a valid and reliable assessment instrument for evaluating the happiness of schoolchildren.