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Happiness in Italy: Translation, Factorial Structure and Norming of the Subjective Happiness Scale in a Large Community Sample

Social Indicators Research volume 118, pages 953–967 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) is one of the most commonly used measures of happiness. Many translations and validation studies have been carried out in different countries and languages. The aim of the current paper was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Italian translation of the SHS and to provide normative data. The SHS was administered with life satisfaction items, anxiety and depression scales to a community sample of 993 participants, aged 18–85 years, living in different parts of Italy. Age and gender distributions were stratified according to the population pyramid. Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported the unidimensionality of the SHS, with acceptable fit indexes (NNFI = .96; CFI = .99; RMSEA = .08; 95 % C.I. [.04–.12]). Multi-group analyses supported total invariance of the SHS measurement model for males and females, and partial invariance for younger (i.e., 18–44 years old) and older (i.e., 45–85 years old) participants. Significant correlations with satisfaction items, anxiety and depression provided evidence for concurrent validity. These findings showed that the Italian SHS translation is a reliable and valid tool, which adds to existing translations and validation studies in different countries and languages.

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Acknowledgments

The authors discussed the contents of this article together. Luca Iani and Marco Lauriola equally contributed to study design, and data analysis and interpetation. Kristin Layous and Saulo Sirigatti provided a significant contribution to data interpretation and manuscript revision. The final version of the manuscript was written by Luca Iani, Marco Lauriola, and Kristin Layous. Thanks to Giulia Giordano, Lucia Lamberti, Maddalena Mealli, Giulia Pace, Sara Pompili, Teresa Roma, Valentina Sardiello, and Cinzia Valeo for helping collecting data. Thanks to Barbara Antonucci and Victoria Bailes for having taken care of translations-backtranslation procedures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Sciences, European University of Rome, Via degli Aldobrandeschi 190, Rome, 00163, Italy

    Luca Iani & Saulo Sirigatti

  2. Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, University of Rome “Sapienza”, Via dei Marsi 78, Rome, 00185, Italy

    Marco Lauriola

  3. Department of Psychology, University of California, 900 University Ave., Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Kristin Layous

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  1. Luca Iani
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  2. Marco Lauriola
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  3. Kristin Layous
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  4. Saulo Sirigatti
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Correspondence to Luca Iani.

Appendix: Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky and Lepper 1999)

Appendix: Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky and Lepper 1999)

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Iani, L., Lauriola, M., Layous, K. et al. Happiness in Italy: Translation, Factorial Structure and Norming of the Subjective Happiness Scale in a Large Community Sample. Soc Indic Res 118, 953–967 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0468-7

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Keywords

  • Subjective happiness
  • Confirmatory factor analysis
  • Reliability
  • Validity
  • Normative data
  • Italy