The French adaptation of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS): Factorial structure, age, gender and time-related invariance in children and adolescents

Abstract

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used instrument which makes it possible to assess an important component of subjective well-being, even among children and adolescents. Nevertheless, to date its psychometric properties have not been tested in young French speakers. The goal of this study is to test the factorial structure and the age, gender and time-related invariance of the French adaptation of the SWLS in children and adolescents. Data were collected from 557 students aged 8 to 16 years (301 girls and 256 boys), including 295 who completed the SWLS twice at a one-year-interval. The results provided support for the unidimensional structure of the scale as well as its age, gender and time-related invariance. Thus, the French adaptation of the SWLS can be used with children and adolescents in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies for comparisons across gender, time and age groups.