Citation

Long RF, Huebner ES, Wedell DH, Hills KJ. Am. J. Orthopsychiatry 2012; 82(1): 50-60.

Affiliation

University of South Carolina.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, American Orthopsychiatric Association, Publisher Wiley Blackwell)

DOI

10.1111/j.1939-0025.2011.01130.x

PMID

22239393

Abstract

The tripartite model of subjective well-being (SWB) incorporates 3 components: frequent positive emotions, infrequent negative emotions, and an overall positive evaluation of life circumstances (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999). In light of the large amount of time that youth spend in school, this study investigated a tripartite model of school-related SWB among adolescents, based on 3 measures of SWB appropriate for adolescents. The measures included a measure of school satisfaction (SS) and measures of positive and negative emotions experienced specifically during school hours. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to analyze the factorial validity of 3- and 4-factor models of school-related SWB in a sample of 921 adolescents. Results indicated that a 4-factor model comprised of positive emotions, negative emotions, fear-related negative emotions, and SS best described the structure of school-related SWB in the current sample. Results also revealed a comparable factor structure for male and female students. The study points to the possible benefits of a contextualized approach to SWB that takes into account the specific environments in which adolescents live.

Language: en