Measuring subjective well-being: a review

This working paper assesses self-reported measures of subjective well-being in later life. In the first place, an overview of the theoretical background of a number of measures, focusing on those present in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), is given. Secondly, the structure of these measurements and the interrelations between them are tested using confirmatory factor analysis. Thirdly, the cross-cultural measurement equivalence of the CASP-scale, a eudaimonic measure developed specifically for older adults, is testing using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). These analyses reveal that it makes sense to distinguish affective, cognitive and eudaimonic measures of well-being empirically, but that these measures are more closely interrelated than one would expect on the base of theory alone. The analysis on CASP in SHARE reveals that the scale can be used to investigate differences in eudaimonic and hedonic subjective well-being across Europe, as partial scalar measurement equivalence is confirmed.