Abstract
The measurement of subjective well-being is an important topic in society since the support of good life, happiness, satisfaction, or attainment of well-being should be the goal of any democratic government. The main problem is how to measure subjective well-being - whether through a single question or as part of a multi-item battery, as a multidimensional concept - to be valid, reliable, and primarily comparable? Both methods are used in the European Social Survey (ESS).
The measurement with one simple question on happiness or life satisfaction has been repeated in each round since 2002, the measurement from a multidimensional perspective was included in Rounds 3 and 6. Specifically, in the Round 6 was firstly introduced a new theoretical model for measuring subjective well-being as a multidimensional concept.
This model consists of 35 items divided into six dimensions of well-being (evaluative well-being, emotional well-being, functioning, vitality, community well-being, supportive relationships). To be able to reliably compare the level of well-being between countries, the model must achieve a certain level of invariance.
In my presentation I will focus on the comparison of both methods, comparing their results and outlining their advantages and disadvantages. The main part of my presentation will be devoted to testing the model of subjective well-being from ESS 6.
Based on the analyses carried out, I can conclude that this model is not conceptually correct, does not fit the data, and cannot be used to compare the level of subjective well-being between countries. To make the comparison possible, the model has to be modified.
In my presentation, I would like to present how the modification process was carried out and how I arrived at the final model, which I have named the "overall model of well-being". This model is composed of 22 items divided into five dimensions (relationships, engagement, vitality, meaning and purpose, emotions).
I tested this final model using different methods in terms of reliability, validity, and invariance and the presentation of these results will be the main part of my presentation.