标题：Measurement Equivalence of Subjective Well-Being Scales under the Presence of Acquiescent Response Style for the Racially and Ethnically Diverse Older Population in the United States
摘要：Objectives. With valid assessment of subjective well-being (SWB) at the forefront of social science research, comparability of measurement scales designed to capture SWB across racial/ethnic groups has been questioned. This study examines measurement properties of well-established SWB scales and their comparability between older Hispanics and Whites in the U.S.. Methods. We analyzed the Health and Retirement Study data in order to examine measurement invariance of the satisfaction with life (SWL), positive affect (PAF) and purpose in life (PIL) scales across non-Hispanic Whites, Hispanics interviewed in English and Hispanics interviewed in Spanish through multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and examined their validity by linking their latent scores with covariates of SWB. Examinations of measurement properties further considered acquiescence response style. Results. Strict, scalar and metric invariance was observed for SWL, PAF and PIL, respectively. However, when latent scores estimated from these invariance models were regressed on the validation measures, the relationship was weaker for Hispanics than Whites, suggesting a lower level of validity for Hispanics than Whites. A lower level of invariance was observed for respondents who acquiesced than their counterpart, while the validity was not necessarily hampered by acquiescent response style. Discussion. Our analysis suggests that the traditional measurement invariance test may not be effective under the presence of acquiescent response style for SWB instruments that use the Likert-type response scales. Research into cross-cultural measurement of SWB that considers systematic difference in conceptualization of SWB as well as response styles may improve our ability to understand SWB of the increasingly diverse population.
关键词：Subjective Well-being; Measurement Equivalence; Measurement Invariance; Minority and Diverse Populations; Cross-cultural Differences
