Scale library · Psychology & mental health
Satisfaction With Life Scale: Diener et al. (1985)
The SWLS was developed by Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin (1985) to measure a person's global judgement of their own life, the cognitive component of subjective well-being. It has only 5 items forming a single factor and takes about a minute to answer. It is widely used as an outcome in theses on student mental health, work-life balance, older adults and the effects of social media.
Cite the original, not the blog.
- Model or scale: SWLS
- Constructs: 1
- Items: 5
Original English items
Items marked (R) are reverse-coded: recode them before computing reliability or scale scores. Replace bracketed placeholders such as [system] with the name of the system, brand or organization you study.
Satisfaction With Life (SWLS, 5 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| SWLS1 | In most ways my life is close to my ideal. | No |
| SWLS2 | The conditions of my life are excellent. | No |
| SWLS3 | I am satisfied with my life. | No |
| SWLS4 | So far I have gotten the important things I want in life. | No |
| SWLS5 | If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing. | No |
Response scale
7-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Slightly disagree, 4 = Neither agree nor disagree, 5 = Slightly agree, 6 = Agree, 7 = Strongly agree). The total is the sum of the 5 items, from 5 to 35. Interpretation bands: 31–35 extremely satisfied; 26–30 satisfied; 21–25 slightly satisfied; 20 neutral; 15–19 slightly dissatisfied; 10–14 dissatisfied; 5–9 extremely dissatisfied.
Licence and permission
The scale is copyrighted by Ed Diener and coauthors but free to use without permission for non-commercial purposes (research, practice), provided the authors are properly cited, according to Diener's official website.
Sources (APA 7)
- Arrindell, W. A., Checa, I., Espejo, B., Chen, I.-H., Carrozzino, D., Vu-Bich, P., Dambach, H., & Vagos, P. (2022). Measurement invariance and construct validity of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) in community volunteers in Vietnam. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(6), 3460. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063460
- Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction With Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
- Ho, T. T. Q., Nguyen, B. T. N., & Nguyen, N. P. H. (2022). Academic stress and depression among Vietnamese adolescents: A moderated mediation model of life satisfaction and resilience. Current Psychology, 42(31), 27217–27227. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03661-3
- Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the Satisfaction With Life Scale. Psychological Assessment, 5(2), 164–172. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.5.2.164
- Tran, M. A. Q., Khoury, B., Chau, N. N. T., Van Pham, M., Dang, A. T. N., Ngo, T. V., Ngo, T. T., Truong, T. M., & Le Dao, A. K. (2022). The role of self-compassion on psychological well-being and life satisfaction of Vietnamese undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Hope as a mediator. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 42(1), 35–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-022-00487-7
Vietnamese translation
A Vietnamese translation of every item, with sample-size advice and studies that used the scale, is on the Vietnamese page for this scale.