An introduction to the Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale

QOL researchers have primarily focused their attention on adults. The purpose of this presentation is to describe the rationale, development, and psychometric properties of a multidimensional life satisfaction scale appropriate for children and youth, the Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994; Huebner et al., 1998). This multidimensional self-report scale was designed for use with students from third through the twelfth grades. The current version of the MSLSS includes 40 items intended to assess satisfaction with five specific domains (School, Self, Family, Friends, and Living Environment). The presentation will summarize a series of recent studies assessing its reliability, factor structure, and convergent and discriminant validity. Additionally, the potential usefulness of children's life satisfaction scales for research and clinical applications were discussed.