Abstract
The purpose of the current study was to assess self-perceived life satisfaction in Chilean and Swedish children. The total sample consisted of a non-clinical sample of 1,352 school children between 8 and 14 years of age. Analyses were carried out to compare the children’s subjective quality of life and life satisfaction. In addition, possible response style differences across the two countries were explored. Based on our findings, no difference was found between the two countries for the total life satisfaction score, and the only area on which the Swedish children had a significantly higher rating than the Chilean children was on their satisfaction with their friends. However, the Chilean children reported a higher satisfaction with their siblings, school and health than the Swedish children. Moreover, an interaction effect was found between country and age group on the school variable, with the three age groups in the Swedish sample being significantly different, whereas no significant difference was found between the age groups on this variable among the Chilean children. Overall, the satisfaction with the children’s different life areas decreased, as they grew older, whereas gender differences were only found on three variables. Small significant response style differences were found between the Chilean and Swedish children. As the effect sizes of these differences were quite small, they should be viewed with caution, and are not likely to explain the few differences found between the children. How I Feel about Things seems fully adequate for use across normal non-clinical boys and girls belonging to different age groups and living in different countries in order to assess their self-reported life satisfaction.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Al-Fayez, G. A., & Ohaeri, J. U. (2011). Profile of subjective quality of life and its correlates in a nation-wide sample of high school students in an Arab setting using the WHOQOL-Bref. BMC Psychiatry, 11, 71–82.
Beaver, B. (2008). A positive approach to children’s internalizing problems. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39, 129–136.
Center for Human Rights, United Nations. (1989). Convention on the rights of the child. Geneva: United Nations.
Chakravarty, S. R. (2003). A generalized human development index. Review of Development Economics, 7, 99–114.
Chen, C., Lee, S.-Y., & Stevenson, H. W. (1995). Response style and crosscultural comparisons of rating scales among East Asian and North American students. Psychological Science, 6, 170–175.
Clefberg Liberman, L., Altuzarra, M. P., Öst, L. G., & Ollendick, T. H. (2012). How I feel about things: Psychometric data from a sample of Spanish-speaking children. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 12, 419–433.
Diener, E., & Oishi, S. (2000). Money and happiness: Income and subjective well-being across nations. In E. Diener & E. M. Suh (Eds.), Cross-cultural psychology of subjective well-being (pp. 185–218). Boston: MIT Press.
Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi, D.-W., Oishi, S., et al. (2010). New well-being measures: Short scales to assess flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 97, 143–156.
Frisch, M. B., Cornell, J., & Villanueva, M. (1992). Clinical validation of the quality of life inventory: A measure of life satisfaction for use in treatment planning and outcome assessment. Psychological Assessment, 4, 92–101.
Galindez, E., & Casas, F. (2010). Adaptación y validación de la Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS) con adolescentes. Estudios de Psicología, 31, 79–87.
Gillison, F., Standage, M., & Skevington, S. (2008). Changes in quality of life and psychological need satisfaction over the transition to secondary school. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 149–162.
Gilman, R., & Huebner, E. S. (2003). A review of life satisfaction research with children and adolescents. School Psychology Quarterly, 18(2), 192–205.
Gilman, R., Huebner, E. S., Tian, L., Park, N., O’Byrne, J., Schiff, M., et al. (2008). Cross-national adolescent multidimensional life satisfaction reports: Analyses of means scores and response style differences. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 37, 142–154.
Helliwell, J., Layard, R., & Sachs, J. (2012). World happiness report. New York: The Earth Institute, Columbia University.
Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Springer.
Huebner, E. S., Suldo, S. M., & Valois, R. F. (2006). Children’s life satisfaction. In K.-A. Anderson & L. H. Lippman (Eds.), What do children need to flourish? Conceptualizing and measuring indicators of positive development (pp. 41–59). New York: Springer.
INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadística). (2004). Resultados oficiales, censo de población. Santiago, Chile: Instituto Nacional de Estadística.
Inglehart, R. F. (1995). Changing values, economic development and political change. International Social Science Journal, 145, 379–404.
International Test Commission. (2010). International Test Commission guidelines for translating and adapting tests. http://www.intestcom.org.
Johnson, T. P., Shavitt, S., & Holbrook, A. L. (2011). Survey response styles across cultures. In D. Matsumoto & F. R. van de Vijver (Eds.), Cross-cultural research methods in psychology (pp. 130–175). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Larsson, K. (2004). Mätning av livskvalitet hos barn: en psykometrisk utprövning av QOLIs barnversion. Psykologexamensarbete. Stockholm, Sweden: Stockholm University.
Luna Bernal, A. C. A., Laca Arocena, F. A., & Mejía Ceballos, J. C. (2011). Bienestar subjetivo y satisfacción con la vida de familia en adolescentes mexicanos de bachillerato. Psicología Iberoamericana, 19(2), 17–26. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1022255624?accountid=38978.
Martinez, P. G. (2005). Paternalism as a positive form of leadership in the Latin American context: Leader benevolence, decision making control and human resource management practices. In M. Elvira & A. Davila (Eds.), Managing human resources in Latin America: An agenda for international leaders (pp. 75–93). Oxford, UK: Routledge.
Martínez, M. L., Pérez, J. C., & Cumsille, P. (2012). Chilean adolescents’ and parents’ views on autonomy development. Youth & Society,. doi:10.1177/0044118X11434215.
McGregor, J. A., Camfield, L., & Woodcock, A. (2009). Needs, wants and goals: Wellbeing, quality of life and public policy. Applied Research Quality Life, 4, 135–154. doi:10.1007/s11482-009-9060-7.
Oishi, S. (2006). The concept of life satisfaction across cultures: An IRT analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 411–423.
Ollendick, T. H., & Davis, T. E, I. I. I. (2001). How I feel about things. Unpublished quality of life measure available from Thomas H. Ollendick. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Perez Arrau, G., Eades, E., & Wilson, J. (2012). Managing human resources in the Latin American context: The case of Chile. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(15), 3133–3150.
Sacks, G., & Kern, L. (2008). A comparison of quality of life variables for students with emotional and behavioural disorders and students without disabilities. Journal of Behavioral Education, 17, 111–127.
Schimmack, U., Oishi, S., & Diener, E. (2005). Individualism: A valid and important dimension of cultural differences. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9, 17–31.
Schlomer, G. L., Bauman, S., & Card, N. A. (2010). Best practices for missing data management in counseling psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57, 1–10.
Statistics Sweden. (2007). Demographic reports, 2007/2. Children, segregated housing and school results. Stockholm: Statistics Sweden.
Streiner, D. L., & Norman, G. R. (2003). Health measurement scales: A practical guide to their development and use. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Suh, E., Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Triandis, H. C. (1998). The shifting basis of life satisfaction judgments across cultures: Emotions versus norms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 482–493.
Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Triandis, H. C. (2000). Dialectics between cultural and cross-cultural psychology. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 3, 185–195.
UNDP (United Nations Development Program). (2011). Human development report. New York: United Nations.
Valois, R. F., Zullig, K. J., Huebner, E. S., & Drane, J. W. (2009). Youth developmental assets and perceived life satisfaction: Is there a relationship? Applied Research in Quality of Life, 4(4), 315–331.
Van Herk, H., Poortinga, Y. H., & Verhallen, T. M. M. (2004). Response styles in rating scales: Evidence of method bias in data from six EU countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35(3), 346–360.
Velázquez Romero, Y., & Garduño Estrada, L. R. (2001). Relación entre la diferenciación del Self y el bienestar subjetivo en jovenes mexicanos. Psicología Iberoamericana, 19(2), 9–16. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1022255624?accountid=389789-16.
Watkins, D., & Cheung, S. (1995). Culture, gender, and response bias: An analysis of responses to the Self-description Questionnaire. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 26, 490–504.
Welzel, C., & Inglehart, R. (2010). Values, agency, and well-being: A human development model. Social Indicators Research, 97(1), 43–63.
Zullig, K. J., Huebner, E. S., & Patton, J. M. (2011). Relationships among school climate domains and school satisfaction. Psychology in the Schools, 48(2), 133–145.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a FAI Fellowship (Fondos de Ayuda a la Investigación) awarded by Universidad de los Andes. We would especially like to thank the Psychology students and recent graduates who helped out in the administration of the questionnaires and data input.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Clefberg Liberman, L., Larsson, K., Altuzarra, M.P. et al. Self-reported Life Satisfaction and Response Style Differences Among Children in Chile and Sweden. J Child Fam Stud 24, 66–75 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9814-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9814-2