Psychometric Evaluation of the Chinese Version of the Subjective Happiness Scale: Evidence from the Hong Kong FAMILY Cohort

• Published in: International journal of behavioral medicine Vol. 21; no. 4; pp. 646 - 652
• Main Authors: Nan, Hairong, Ni, Michael Y., Lee, Paul H., Tam, Wilson W. S., Lam, Tai Hing, Leung, Gabriel M., McDowell, Ian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.08.2014; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Asian Continental Ancestry Group; China; Cohort Studies; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Family Medicine; Female; General Practice; Happiness; Health Psychology; Hong Kong; Humans; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Pilot Projects; Psychometrics; Quality of Life; Quantitative psychology; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires; Hong Kong; China; Construct validity; Chinese; Subjective Happiness Scale; Well-being; Family study; Public health
• ISSN: 1070-5503; 1532-7558
• DOI: 10.1007/s12529-014-9389-3

Background With China’s rapid economic growth in the past few decades, there is currently an emerging focus on happiness. Cross-cultural validity studies have indicated that the four-item Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) has high internal consistency and stable reliability. However, the psychometric characteristics of the SHS in broader Chinese community samples are unknown. Purpose We evaluated the factor structure and psychometric properties of the SHS in the Hong Kong general population. Methods The Chinese SHS was derived using forward–backward translation. Of the Cantonese-speaking participants aged ≥15 years, 2,635 were randomly selected from the random sample component of the FAMILY Cohort, a territory-wide cohort study in Hong Kong. In addition to the SHS, a single-item overall happiness scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the Family Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection, Resolve (APGAR) scale, and the Medical Outcomes Study 12-item short-form version 2 (SF-12) mental and physical health scales were administered. Results Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a single factor with high loadings for the four SHS items. Multiple group analyses indicated factor invariance across sex and age groups. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.82, and 2-week test–retest reliability ( n  = 191) was 0.70. The SHS correlated significantly with single-item overall happiness (Spearman’s rho [ ρ ] = 0.57), Family APGAR ( ρ  = 0.26), PHQ-9 ( ρ  = −0.34), and mental health-related quality of life ( ρ  = 0.40) but showed a lower correlation with physical health ( ρ  = 0.15). A regression model that included the PHQ-9 and Family APGAR scores explained 37 % of the variance in SF-12 mental health scores; adding the SHS raised the variance explained to 41 %. Conclusions Our results support the reliability and validity of the SHS as a relevant component in the measurement battery for mental well-being in a Chinese general population.