Journal of School of Public Health and

Background and Aim: The present research aimed to study the psychometric characteristics of a subjective well-being questionnaire among high school students.

Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive correlational study. A total of 400 high school students (200 boys and 200 girls) in the City of Ghom, Iran were selected by multistage cluster sampling.  Data were collected using the Oxford subjective well-being and happiness inventory questionnaire. Factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha coefficient and the Pearson correlation test were used to analyze the data. 

Results: Factor analysis showed that the scale was saturated with four factors. In addition, Pearson correlation test indicated that subjective well-being was positively associated (p < 0.01) with happiness (r=0.27), discipline (r=0.11) and academic achievement (r=0.28). Also the reliability of the subjective well-being questionnaire using Cronbach's alpha was found to be  0.87 for the total scale and 0.69, 0.85, 0.73 and 0.78 for the subscales school connectedness, joy of learning, educational purpose and academic efficacy, respectively; these findings indicate that the tool used was quite good and reliable.

Conclusions: Based on the findings is concluded that the Persian version of the subjective well-being questionnaire is an acceptable tool to determine the psychometric characteristics of high school students and can be used as a valid instrument in psychological research.