The Satisfaction with Life Scale in Adolescent Samples: Measurement Invariance across 24 Countries and Regions,Age, and Gender

Measurement of adolescent life satisfaction across cultures has not received much attention in previous empirical research. The present study evaluated measurement invariance of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) among adolescents in 24 countries and regions (N = 22,710; age range = 13–19 years; 53% female). A single-factor model with residual covariance between a pair of items tapping past life satisfaction fitted well in 19 countries and regions and showed a partial metric invariance. In a subset of nine countries and regions, partial scalar invariance was supported. Partial metric invariance across all 24 countries and regions was achieved when custom model modifications in five countries and regions were included. Three SWLS items showed evidence of noninvariance across cultures. The measurement model was found to operate similarly across gender and age. Our findings suggest that caution is needed when using the SWLS for measuring life satisfaction among adolescents from different cultures.

     

The particularity and phenomenology of perceptual experience

I argue that any account of perceptual experience should satisfy the following two desiderata. First, it should account for the particularity of perceptual experience, that is, it should account for the mind-independent object of an experience making a difference to individuating the experience. Second, it should explain the possibility that perceptual relations to distinct environments could yield subjectively indistinguishable experiences. Relational views of perceptual experience can easily satisfy the first but not the second desideratum. Representational views can easily satisfy the second but not the first desideratum. I argue that to satisfy both desiderata perceptual experience is best conceived of as fundamentally both relational and representational. I develop a view of perceptual experience that synthesizes the virtues of relationalism and representationalism, by arguing that perceptual content is constituted by potentially gappy de re modes of presentation.     

Personality functioning in patients with a progressive course of multiple sclerosis

This study intended to describe general personality functioning in patients with a progressive course of multiple sclerosis. 55 consecutive rehabilitation inpatients with progressive course of multiple sclerosis were assessed with a multimethod test battery: the Expanded Disability Status Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and the Rorschach Test administered and scored with Comprehensive System. The control group comprised 55 healthy participants with similar sociodemographic characteristics. Specific differences were found for both cognitive and affective aspects, as the patients with progressive course of multiple sclerosis had less positive self-image, less effective mediation processing, and an affective approach to reality. Present data illustrated the usefulness of examining patients with a progressive course of multiple sclerosis to identify abilities and difficulties in cognitive and affective patterns, and support better adaptation to relationships and the environment.     

Assessing the restorative value of the environment: A study on the elderly in comparison with young adults and adolescents

Nature is not only appreciated for its aesthetic characteristics, but is also a useful resource for people. It plays an important role in the process of attention restoration and recovery from stress. Young adults and adolescents assess natural environments as being more restorative than built environments. This study sought to test whether natural environments are more restorative than built environments for the elderly as well. The study is made up of two phases: (1) an empirical study with the elderly, (2) a comparison of data from the elderly with two earlier studies of adolescents and young adults. To achieve this aim a group of 50 elderly people (age range: 62–93 years) was asked to rate the restorative value of 10 pictures of environments ranging from natural to built, covering 5 environmental categories: housing, industrial zone, city streets, hills, and lakes. Each picture was assessed using the Perceived Restorativeness Scale. Participants were from three living situations: elderly living in a place for old people located in a green area (N = 18), elderly living in a place for old people located in an urban area (N = 20), and elderly living in their own homes (N = 12). Results showed that all three groups of the elderly evaluated the natural environments as more restorative than the built environments. The elderly data were then compared with the data from a sample of adolescents (N = 60, age range: 11–14 years) and of young adults (N = 100, age range: 18–29 years). All three groups rated natural environments as more restorative than built environments. The evaluation of preference and familiarity, however, differed between age groups, with adolescence being less familiar with and less in favour of natural environments than young adults and the elderly. Restorativeness and preference were correlated among all age groups, while familiarity and restorativeness were correlated only among the elderly.