Abstract
Given the important limitations of direct (explicit) measures in psychological research with children, various scholars have focused on developing indirect (implicit) measures for different psychological constructs. However, children’s well-being has traditionally been assessed in an explicit and direct way. For this reason, the first goal of the present research was to develop a new instrument to assess children’s and adolescents’ well-being using the Implicit Association Test (WB-IAT-Y). The second aim was to examine the relation between direct and indirect well-being measures. In this study, 358 primary and secondary school students answered the WB-IAT-Y, the Psychological Well-being Scales, and the World Health Organization – Five Well-Being Index. Finally, an expert conducted a semi-structured interview with each participant, asking about satisfaction with life in the main domains for children (i.e., family life, friends, school, and overall life satisfaction). The WB-IAT-Y showed good internal consistency and adequate construct validity. Factorial analyses indicated that this measure acted as an indirect measure. As in previous research, the WB-IAT-Y correlated weakly with the two well-being direct measures, and it showed the strongest correlation with the semi-structured interview conducted by an expert. To conclude, the new WB-IAT-Y instrument is a useful measure to assess indirect well-being for youths. We suggest that it is important to evaluate children’s and adolescents’ well-being using both direct and indirect measures in order to assess conscious and unconscious processing of self-relevant information.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amholt, T. T., Dammeyer, J., Carter, R., & Niclasen, J. (2020). Psychological well-being and academic achievement among school-aged children: A systematic review. Child Indicators Research, 13, 1523–1548. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-020-09725-9.
Antonovsky. (1987). Sense of coherence scale. Unraveling the mystery of Health: How people manage stress and stay well. Jossey-Bass.
Asendorpf, J. B., Banse, R., & Mücke, D. (2002). Double dissociation between implicit and explicit personality self-concept: The case of shy behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(2), 380–393. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.2.380.
Bajo, M., Stavraki, M., Blanco, A., & Díaz, D. (2021). Direct versus indirect well-being measures: Using partially structured stimuli to evaluate well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22(6), 2575–2598. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00332-7.
Banse, R., Seise, J., & Zerbes, N. (2001). Implicit attitudes towards homosexuality: Reliability, validity, and controllability of the IAT. Zeitschrift Für Experimentelle Psychologie, 48(2), 145–160. https://doi.org/10.1026//0949-3946.48.2.145.
Bar-Anan, Y., & Nosek, B. A. (2014). A Comparative Investigation of Seven Implicit Measures of Social Cognition. Behavior Research Methods, 46(3), 668–688. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-013-0410-6.
Bargh, J. A. (1997). The automaticity of everyday life. In R. S. Wyer Jr. (Ed.), Advances in social cognition, Vol. 10. The automaticity of everyday life: Advances in social cognition (Vol. 10, pp. 1–61). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Blanco, A., & Díaz, D. (2005). El Bienestar social: Su concepto y medición. Psicothema, 17(4), 582–589.
Cameron, C. D., Brown-Iannuzzi, J. L., & Keith, B. (2012). Sequential priming measures of Implicit Social Cognition: A Meta-Analysis of associations with Behavior and Explicit attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 16(4), 330–350. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868312440047.
Cummins, R. A. (1996). The domains of life satisfaction: An attempt to order chaos. Social Indicators Research, 38, 303–328. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00292050.
Cummins, R. A. (2000). Personal income and subjective well-being: A review. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1(2), 133–158. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1010079728426.
Cummins, R. A., Mccabe, M. P., Romeo, Y., & Gullone, E. (1994). Validity studies the comprehensive quality of life scale (Comqol): Instrument development and psychometric evaluation on college staff and students. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 54(2), 372–382. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164494054002011.
Cummins, R., Eckersley, R., Pallant, J., van Vugt, J., & Misajon, R. A. (2003). Developing a National Index of subjective wellbeing: The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index. Social Indicators Research, 64, 159–190. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024704320683.
Cvencek, D., Meltzoff, A. N., & Greenwald, A. G. (2011). Math–gender stereotypes in Elementary School Children. Child Development, 82(3), 766–779. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01529.x.
De Wit, M., Pouwer, F., Gemke, R. J., Delemarre-Van De Waal, H. A., & Snoek, F. J. (2007). Validation of the WHO-5 well-being index in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care, 30(8), 2003–2006. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc07-0447.
DeVellis, R. F., & Thorpe, C. T. (2021). Scale Development. Theory and applications (5th ed.). SAGE.
Díaz, D., Rodríguez-Carvajal, R., Blanco, A., Moreno-Jiménez, B., Gallardo, I., Valle, C., & van Dierendonck, D. (2006). Adaptación española de las escalas de bienestar psicológico de Ryff. Psicothema, 18(3), 572–577.
Díaz, D., Blanco, A., Bajo, M., & Stavraki, M. (2015). Fatalism and well-being across hispanic cultures: The social fatalism scales (SFS). Social Indicators Research, 124, 929–945. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-014-0825-1.
Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542.
Diener, E., & Lucas, R. E. (1999). 11 personality and subjective well-being. In D. Kahneman, Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: Foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 213–229). Russel Sage Foundation.
Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13.
Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125(2), 276–302. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276.
Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. C. (2002). Predictive validity of an Implicit Association Test for assessing anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1441–1455. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1441.
Emeh, C. C., Mikami, A. Y., & Teachman, B. A. (2018). Explicit and implicit positive illusory bias in children with ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 22(10), 994–1001. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054715612261.
Epstein, S. (1994). Integration of the cognitive and the psychodynamic unconscious. American Psychologist, 49(8), 709. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.49.8.709.
Fardouly, J., & Vartanian, L. R. (2016). Social media and body image concerns: Current research and future directions. Current Opinion in Psychology, 9, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.09.005.
Fazio, R. H., Jackson, J. R., Dunton, B. C., & Williams, C. J. (1995). Variability in automatic activation as an unobtrusive measure of racial attitudes: A bona fide pipeline? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(6), 1013–1027. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.69.6.1013.
Ferrando, P. J., Lorenzo-Seva, U., Hernández-Dorado, A., & Muñiz, J. (2022). Decalogue for the factor analysis of test items. Psicothema, 34(1), 7. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2021.456.
Finney, S., & DiStefano, C. (2013). Non-normal and categorical data in structural equation modeling. In G. R. Hancock, & O. Mueller (Eds.), Structural equation modeling: A second course (2nd ed., pp. 439–492). Information Age Publishing.
Flavell, J. H., Green, F. L., & Flavell, E. R. (2000). Development of children’s awareness of their own thoughts. Journal of Cognition and Development, 1(1), 97–112. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327647JCD0101N_10.
Fogarty, G. J., Davies, J. E., MacCann, C., & Roberts, R. D. (2014). Self-versus parent-ratings of industriousness, affect, and life satisfaction in relation to academic outcomes. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(2), 281–293. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12024.
Gawronski, B. (2002). What does the Implicit Association Test measure? A test of the convergent and discriminant validity of prejudice-related IATs. Experimental Psychology, 49(3), 171–180. https://doi.org/10.1026/1618-3169.49.3.171.
Glorfeld, L. W. (1995). An improvement on Horn’s parallel analysis methodology for selecting the correct number of factors to retain. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 55(3), 377–393. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164495055003002.
González, A. M., Steele, J. R., & Baron, A. S. (2017). Reducing children’s implicit racial Bias through exposure to positive out-group exemplars. Child Development, 88(1), 123–130. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12582.
Gorsuch, R. L. (1983). Three methods for analyzing limited time-series (N of 1) data. Behavioral Assessment, 5(2), 141–154.
Gray, H. M., LaPlante, D. A., Bannon, B. L., Ambady, N., & Shaffer, H. J. (2011). Development and validation of the Alcohol Identity Implicit associations Test (AI-IAT). Addictive Behaviors, 36(9), 919–926. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.05.003.
Greenwald, A., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102(1), 4–27. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.102.1.4.
Greenwald, A., & Farnham, S. D. (2000). Using the implicit association test to measure self-esteem and self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 1022–1038. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.79.6.1022.
Greenwald, A. G., & Lai, C. K. (2020). Implicit social cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 71, 419–445. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010419-050837.
Greenwald, A., Nosek, B. A., & Banaji, M. R. (2003). Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: I. An improved scoring algorithm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(2), 197–216. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.197.
Greenwald, A., Poehlman, T. A., Uhlmann, E. L., & Banaji, M. R. (2009). Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: III. Meta-analysis of predictive validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(1), 17–41. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015575.
Grimm, P. (2010). Social Desirability Bias. In J. Sheth, & N. Malhotra (Eds.), Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gschwendner, T., Hofmann, W., & Schmitt, M. (2008). Differential Stability. Journal of Individual Differences, 29(2), 70–79. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001.29.2.70.
Hayton, J. C., Allen, D. G., & Scarpello, V. (2004). Factor retention decisions in exploratory factor analysis: A tutorial on parallel analysis. Organizational Research Methods, 7(2), 191–205. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428104263675.
Hofmann, W., Gawronski, B., Gschwendner, T., Le, H., & Schmitt, M. (2005). A meta-analysis on the correlation between the Implicit Association Test and explicit self-report measures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(10), 1369–1385. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167205275613.
Holfve-Sabel, M. A. (2014). Learning, interaction and relationships as components of student well-being: Differences between classes from student and teacher perspective. Social Indicators Research, 119(3), 1535–1555. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0557-7.
Jost, J. T. (2019). The IAT is dead, long live the IAT: Context-sensitive measures of implicit attitudes are indispensable to social and political psychology. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28(1), 10–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721418797309.
Kahneman, D., Diener, E., & Schwarz, N. (1999). Well-being: Foundations of hedonic psychology. Russell Sage Foundation.
Karpinski, A. (2004). Measuring self-esteem using the Implicit Association Test: The role of the other. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30(1), 22–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203258835.
Kim, D. Y. (2004). The implicit life satisfaction measure. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 7(3), 236–262. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-839X.2004.00148.x.
Krosnick, J. A., & Presser, S. (2010). Question and Questionnaire Design. In P. Mardsen, & J. Wright (Eds.), Handbook of Survey Research (2nd ed., pp. 263–313). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Kuncel, N. R., Credé, M., & Thomas, L. L. (2005). The validity of self-reported Grade Point averages, Class Ranks, and test scores: A Meta-analysis and review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 75(1), 63–82. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543075001063.
Kurdi, B., Seitchik, A. E., Axt, J. R., Carroll, T. J., Karapetyan, A., Kaushik, N., Tomezsko, D., Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (2019). Relationship between the Implicit Association Test and intergroup behavior: A meta-analysis. American Psychologist, 74(5), 569–586. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000364.
Lamers, S. M., Westerhof, G. J., Bohlmeijer, E. T., ten Klooster, P. M., & Keyes, C. L. M. (2011). Evaluating the psychometric properties of the mental health continuum-short form (MHC-SF). Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67(1), 99–110. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20741.
Lemmer, G., Gollwitzer, M., & Banse, R. (2015). On the psychometric properties of the aggressiveness-IAT for children and adolescents. Aggressive Behavior, 41(1), 84–95. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21575.
Liddle, I., & Carter, G. F. (2015). Emotional and psychological well-being in children: The development and validation of the Stirling children’s Well-being Scale. Educational Psychology in Practice, 31(2), 174–185. https://doi.org/10.1080/02667363.2015.1008409.
Lindgren, K. P., Baldwin, S. A., Peterson, K. P., Wiers, R. W., & Teachman, B. A. (2020). Change in implicit alcohol associations over time: Moderation by drinking history and gender. Addictive Behaviors, 107, 106413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106413.
Llosada-Gistau, J., Casas, F., & Montserrat, C. (2019). The subjective well-being of children in kinship care. Psicothema, 31(2), 149–155. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2018.302.
Lorenzo-Seva, U., & Ferrando, P. J. (2006). FACTOR: A computer program to fit the exploratory factor analysis model. Behavior Research Methods, 38(1), 88–91. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03192753.
Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84(3), 231–259. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.3.231.
Olson, M. A., & Fazio, R. H. (2006). Reducing automatically activated racial prejudice through implicit evaluative conditioning. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(4), 421–433. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167205284004.
Pieters, S., van der Vorst, H., Engels, R. C. M. E., & Wiers, R. W. (2010). Implicit and explicit cognitions related to alcohol use in children. Addictive Behaviors, 35(5), 471–478. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2009.12.022.
Rae, J. R., & Olson, K. R. (2018). Test–retest reliability and predictive validity of the implicit association test in children. Developmental Psychology, 54(2), 308–330. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000437.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2001). To be happy or to be self-fulfilled: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 141–166.
Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069.
Schlosser, A. E. (2020). Self-disclosure versus self-presentation on social media. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.025.
Sischka, P. E., Costa, A. P., Steffgen, G., & Schmidt, A. F. (2020). The WHO-5 well-being index – validation based on item response theory and the analysis of measurement invariance across 35 countries. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 1, 100020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2020.100020.
Stavraki, M., García-Márquez, R., Bajo, M., Callejas-Albiñana, A. I., Paredes, B., & Díaz, D. (2022). Brief version of the Ryff Psychological Well-being scales for children and adolescents: Evidence of Validity. Psicothema, 34(2), 316–322. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2021.235.
Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103(2), 193–210. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.103.2.193.
Tedeschi, J. T., Schlenker, B. R., & Bonoma, T. V. (1971). Cognitive dissonance: Private ratiocination or public spectacle? American Psychologist, 26(8), 685–695. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0032110.
Ten Berge, J. M., & Kiers, H. A. (1991). A numerical approach to the approximate and the exact minimum rank of a covariance matrix. Psychometrika, 56, 309–315. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02294464.
Tomyn, A. J., & Cummins, R. A. (2011). The subjective wellbeing of high-school students: Validating the personal wellbeing index—school children. Social Indicators Research, 101(3), 405–418. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-010-9668-6.
Turner, R. N., Hewstone, M., & Voci, A. (2007). Reducing explicit and implicit outgroup prejudice via direct and extended contact: The mediating role of self-disclosure and intergroup anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(3), 369–388. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.3.369.
Velicer, W. F., & Fava, J. L. (1998). Affects of variable and subject sampling on factor pattern recovery. Psychological Methods, 3(2), 231. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.3.2.231.
Walker, S. S., & Schimmack, U. (2008). Validity of a happiness implicit association test as a measure of subjective well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(2), 490–497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2007.07.005.
Waterman, A. S. (1993). Two conceptions of happiness: Contrasts of personal expressiveness (eudaimonia) and hedonic enjoyment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(4), 678–691. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.64.4.678.
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.54.6.1063.
Weber, S. J., & Cook, T. D. (1972). Subject effects in laboratory research: An examination of subject roles, demand characteristics, and valid inference. Psychological Bulletin, 77(4), 273. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0032351.
Westen, D., & Rosenthal, R. (2003). Quantifying construct validity: Two simple measures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(3), 608–618. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.3.608.
Williams, A., & Steele R., J. (2016). The reliability of child-friendly race-attitude Implicit Association tests. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01576.
Wilson, T. D., Lindsey, S., & Schooler, T. Y. (2000). A model of dual attitudes. Psychological Review, 107(1), 101–126. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.107.1.101.
World Health Organization. (1948). World Health Organization Constitution. World Health Organization: Basic documents. World Health Organization.
World Health Organization. (1998). Wellbeing measures in primary health care: The DepCare Project. World Health Organization.
Funding
This research was funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain (PID2020-116651GB-C32) and the Universidad Castilla la Mancha 2022-GRIN-34170.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors have read and approved the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic Supplementary Material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
García-Márquez, R., Stavraki, M., Díaz, D. et al. Development of an Implicit Well-Being Measure for Youths Using the Implicit Association Test. Child Ind Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-024-10121-w
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-024-10121-w