Satisfaction with Life Scale among adolescents and young adults in Portugal: extending evidence of construct validity

The paper presents three empirical studies designed to extend the test of the construct validity of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) among Portuguese students. In the first study, the responses of 461 elementary and secondary education students were submitted to a principal component analysis. A solution of one single factor was chosen, accounting for 55.7 % of the total variance, with Cronbach alpha coefficient and inter-item correlation above .70 and .20, respectively. The second study used a sample of 317 undergraduate students and registered a similar factor solution for SWLS (/pq = 0.99), which accounted for 65.6 % of the total variance (Cronbach alpha .89 and inter-item correlation above .20). A test–retest analysis registered coefficients of .70 (T2) and .77 (T3) and no significant statistically differences between T2, T3 and T1. The third study used a sample of 107 foster care youths from elementary and secondary education. Confirmatory factor analysis results indicate adequate fit indexes for the one-factor solution (v2/df = 2.70, GFI = .96, CFI = .96), which showed convergent validity, reliability and homogeneity. In conclusion, there is psychometric evidence for the one-factor structure of the SWLS in Portugal.FCTCOMPET

Prevalence, associated factors and predictors of anxiety: a community survey in Selangor, Malaysia

Background: Anxiety is the most common mental health disorders in the general population. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of anxiety, its associated factors and the predictors of anxiety among adults in the community of Selangor, Malaysia. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out in three districts in Selangor, Malaysia. The inclusion criteria of this study were Malaysian citizens, adults aged 18 years and above, and living in the selected living quarters based on the list provided by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOS). Participants completed a set of questionnaires, including the validated Malay version of Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD 7) to detect anxiety. Results: Of the 2512 participants who were approached, 1556 of them participated in the study (61.90 %). Based on the cut-off point of 8 and above in the GAD-7, the prevalence of anxiety was 8.2 %. Based on the initial multiple logistic regression analysis, the predictors of anxiety were depression, serious problems at work, domestic violence and high perceived stress. When reanalyzed again after removing depression, low self-esteem and high perceived stress, six predictors that were identified are cancer, serious problems at work, domestic violence, unhappy relationship with family, non-organizational religious activity and intrinsic religiosity. Conclusion: This study reports the prevalence of anxiety among adults in the community of Selangor, Malaysia and also the magnitude of the associations between various factors and anxiety