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Fit and Cross-Country Comparability of Children’s Worlds Psychological Well-Being Scale Using 12-Year-Olds Samples

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Abstract

Research on adolescents’ psychological well-being has been rare and lacks a sound theoretical framework. The International Survey of Children’s Well-Being (ISCWeB) is using the Children’s Worlds Psychological Well-Being Scale (CW-PSWBS) as a measure based on Ryff’s model of psychological well-being. However, both Ryff’s model appropriateness to adolescent population and its cross-country comparability are unclear. In order to cross-country compare statistics obtained from adolescents by using this instrument, its measurement invariance needs to be checked. The aim of this paper is to test the fit and the cross-country comparability of CW-PSWBS among 13 countries using 12-year-olds samples from ISCWeB survey wave 2 and 3. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis to assess the extent to which it is valid to make cross-national comparisons using this measure has been used. Our results suggest that it is meaningful to compare correlations and regressions of a 5-item version of CW-PSWBS scale only in wave 2 data, when the item on self-acceptance dimension is left out. In wave 3, one additional item does not get support for metric invariance. However, scalar invariance is not supported in any case and therefore cross-national comparisons of mean scores on CW-PSWBS are not statistically meaningful.

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Notes

  1. For both waves of the survey a specialist central review board had been established to review country proposals for sampling strategies and approve final versions. Key requirements for full inclusion in the study were to use some form of random sampling (usually random stratified cluster sampling) with a sampling frame covering at least 95% of the child population in the age groups surveyed in mainstream schools. Up to 5% exclusions were allowed in each country due to issues such as the difficulties and costs of surveying very small schools in geographically remote areas. A target sample size of at least 1000 children in at least 20 schools in each age group was set (Rees et al., 2020).

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to all children who kindly agreed to answer the questionnaire, to all principal investigators and to all research team members who participated in the data collection in the 13 countries included in the sample used here, to the co-ordinating team of the Children’s Worlds project for kindly allowing us to use the database, to the Jacobs Foundation for supporting the project, and to Rein Taagepera for the English editing of this paper. Oliver Nahkur’s work on this publication was supported by a grant from the Estonian Research Council (PRG700).

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Oliver Nahkur’s work on this publication was supported by a grant from the Estonian Research Council (PRG700).

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  1. Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

    Oliver Nahkur

  2. Doctoral Program On Education and Society, Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile

    Ferran Casas

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Nahkur, O., Casas, F. Fit and Cross-Country Comparability of Children’s Worlds Psychological Well-Being Scale Using 12-Year-Olds Samples. Child Ind Res 14, 2211–2247 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-021-09833-0

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