Psychometric properties of the PERMA well-being scale for adolescents: alternatives for its measurement

Abstract

Adolescence is a stage in the life cycle that involves great changes in all facets of life. In this stage, the person is exposed to multiple risk and protective factors that can affect their health, so studying the construct of well-being is necessary to understand more deeply the mental health in this period. Despite the above, an important absence of instruments designed for this purpose has been observed in the Latin American context, so the aim of this research was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the adolescent psychological well-being scale designed by Soler, based on Seligman's PERMA theory, and to present alternatives to the original factor structure. An instrumental investigation was carried out in which 779 adolescents from Montevideo participated, a sample that was randomly divided into two parts to carry out a cross-validation. An exploratory factor analysis was carried out in the training sample (n = 390), which revealed four and five dimensional options. Subsequently, four models were evaluated in the test sample (n=389) by means of a confirmatory factor analysis, highlighting two pentadimensional structures, the original (35 items) and the abbreviated (20 items). In both, positive correlations were found with well-being, self-esteem and self-efficacy, and negative correlations with depressive symptoms and psychological distress; however, the convergent and discriminant validity of the abbreviated model was superior. The internal consistency of each factor ranged from unacceptable to excellent, although on average it can be considered adequate. It is concluded that the scale formulated by Soler in its abbreviated version has better psychometric properties than the original one, constituting a valid and reliable instrument that can be administered in the Montevidean adolescent population to assess psychological well-being.