Factor Structure of Subjective Well-Being in Iran

Subjective well-being is predominantly conceived as having 3 components: life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. This article reports 2 studies that seek to investigate the factor structure of subjective well-being in Iran. One-, two-, and three-factor models of subjective well-being were evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). The results of Study 1 (N = 2,197) and Study 2 (N = 207) show that whereas the 1- and 2-factor models do not fit the data well, the 3-factor model provides an adequate fit. These results indicate that the 3 components of subjective well-being constitute 3 interrelated, yet distinct, factors. The analyses demonstrate how traditional CFA and ESEM can be combined to obtain a clear picture of the measurement model of subjective well-being and generate new insights about individual items and cross-loadings needed to derive more parsimonious measures. Nuances relating to the assessment of subjective well-being in more collectivist and Muslim countries are discussed.