Abstract
Over the last 25 years, there has been growing research interest in the field of positive psychology (Gable & Haidt, 2005; Ivtzan, Lomas, Hefieron, & Worth, 2015; Joseph, 2015; Lomas, Hefieron, & Ivtzan, 2014; Snyder & Lopez, 2009). Within contemporary positive psychology, there is a wide range of self-report instruments to measure strengths and virtues suitable for use by both researchers and clinicians (Lopez & Snyder, 2003). One area of specific interest has been the operationalization and conceptualization of the construct of happiness. Examples of self-report scales of happiness include the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness (Kozma & Stones, 1980); the Affectometer 2 (Kammann & Flett, 1983); the Happiness Measures (Fordyce, 1988); the Oxford Happiness Inventory (Argyle, Martin, & Crossland, 1989); the Subjective Happiness Scale (also known as the General Happiness Scale); (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999); the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hills & Argyle, 2002); the Subjective Fluctuating Happiness Scale (Dambrun et ah, 2012); the Subjective Authentic Durable Happiness Scale (Dambrun et ah, 2012); and the Pemberton Happiness Index (Hervas & Vazquez, 2013).One established measure of happiness is the 25-item Depression-Happiness Scale (Joseph & Lewis, 1998). The Depression-Happiness Scale consists of 13 items with negative (e.g., I felt sad) and 12 items with positive content (e.g., I felt cheerful). The positive and negative items were constructed in a way, that they should represent each other's opposites and include the same level of intensity (I felt happy vs. I felt sad). Each item is rated on a four-point scale: never (0), rarely (1 ), sometimes (2), and (3). Three scores can be calculated: One for positive feelings, one for negative feelings, and a total-score (Lewis, Joseph, & McCollam, 1996). The 13 items concerned with negative thoughts, feelings, and bodily experiences are reverse scored so that possible scores of the total scale can range from 0 to 75 and the higher the score, the happier a person is rated. Previous studies have shown good internal consistencies for the total score ranging from .85 to .95 (Lewis et ah, 1996; Lewis, McCollam, & Joseph, 2001; McGrealJ Farsi (Bayani, 2006); and German (Paulitsch, Lewis, & Hartig, 2017). There also exists a 6-item Short Depression-Happiness Scale (Joseph, Linley, Harwood, Lewis, & McCollam, 2004) for use when time or space is limited. The Short Depression-Happiness Scale has been translated into Turkish (Sapmaz & Temizel, 2013); and can also be derived from the parent Depression-Happiness Scale translations into Hindi (Kishore & Pal, 2003); Farsi (Bayani, 2006); and German (Paulitsch et al., 2017). The Short Depression-Happiness Scale has the same structure and content as the original 2 5-item but has only six items. Therefore, the total scale can range from 0 to 3 0.At present within the Russian-speaking world, there is much interest among social scientists in positive psychology (Lyubomirsky, 2014). Indeed, Russia provides an interesting context to undertake such work. For example, there are inconsistencies in findings and commentaries that Russia consistently ranks low in levels of happiness in international comparisons (Myers & Diener, 1995; Smetanina, 2011 ; Yelshansky, Anufriev, Saparin, & Semyonov, 2016).Practically for researchers and clinicians interested in positive psychology in the Russian context, there are presently a growing number of scales available in the Russian language (Yelshansky, Anufriev, Kamaletdinova, Saparin, & Semyonov, 2016a; Yelshansky, Anufriev, Kamaletdinova et al., 2016b) and these are often Russian language translations of established scales developed in other languages. …
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call