MSLSS
Psychometric Evaluation of the 18-Item Version of
the Multidimensional Students Life Satisfaction Scale
for Malaysian Adolescents
Mr. Chin Wen Cong
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
Introduction
Life satisfaction is a crucial indicator of adolescent mental health.
Huebner (2001) developed the 40-item Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS) for the assessment of adolescents’ satisfaction with family, school, self, friends, and living environment.
The 18-item version of the MSLSS (MSLSS-18; Sawatzky et al., 2009) is as valid as the original version of the MSLSS.
The validity evidence of the MSLSS-18 remains unclear in the context of Malaysia.
The present study aimed to validate the MSLSS-18 among Malaysian adolescents using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
MSLSS-18-M
Malay version of MSLSS-18 translated by Yaacob et al. (2012) using the back-to-back translation method.
6-point response options (1 = "strongly disagree" to 6 = "strongly agree").
5 subscales:
family (four items), e.g., "My family is better than most"
school (four items), e.g., "I look forward to going to school"
self (four items), e.g., "There are lots of things I can do well"
friends (four items), e.g., "My friends are nice to me"
living environment (two items), e.g., "I like my neighbourhood"
Methods
This study re-used data collected for a larger project on adolescents’ suicidal ideation and depression.
852 public secondary school students.
Multistage cluster sampling method: 3 public secondary schools in 3 different regions of Kuala Lumpur (i.e., North, Central, and South).
13 to 17 years old (M = 14.80; SD = 1.23).
CFA was performed using the jamovi software.
Results & Discussion
Conclusion
The hypothetical five-factor model had a good model fit for the Malaysian adolescent sample.
MSLSS-18 showed excellent internal reliability: Cronbach’s alphas = .789 – .860 (except for the living environment subscale with two items).
MSLSS-18 is a valid and reliable tool for Malaysian adolescents.
Local researchers and mental health practitioners are advised to use the MSLSS-18 to assess Malaysian adolescents’ life satisfaction in multiple dimensions.