Multicomponent framework for students' subjective well-being in elementary school

School Psychology. 2020. Vol. 35. No. 5. P. 321–331.

Kanonire T., Federiakin D., Uglanova I.

The study proposes a multicomponent model of subjective well-being (SWB) in elementary school. The model includes satisfaction with school, affect toward school, well-being related to communication with peers, and subjective physical well-being. The aim of this study is to verify whether well-being related to different aspects of school life can be explained by a general SWB factor in school. A sample of 1,704 third-grade students (M age  8.89; SD  0.4; 48.4% girls) was asked to complete a survey consisting of Likert-type scales. The psychometric analysis investigated the internal structure of the data. Multidimensional models from the Rasch modeling framework of item response theory were applied. A correlated factors model, a bifactor model, and oblique bifactor models were compared. Two models fit the data well: the extended Rasch testlet model and the correlated factor model. The findings indicate that a general SWB factor can be extracted from the data through the extended Rasch testlet model. However, the extended Rasch testlet model provides only 1 usable general factor. For the extraction of detailed information by means of scales, the correlated factor model can be applied. Implications for practitioners and limitations of the study are also discussed.

Keywords: subjective well-being, elementary school, Item Response Theory, multidimensional item response model, bifactor item response model

Publication based on the results of: Estimating the progress of cognitive and non-cognitive development of primary school students (2018)