The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS): Psychometric Properties in an Arabic-speaking Sample

ABSTRACT To develop an Arabic version of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), two Arab bilinguals achieved consensus in their translation of the five items. Eight hundred sixty four (864) students (age 18 to 31) completed the SWLS, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Satisfaction With Life Scale (LSI, Neugarten, 1961) and Symptom Checklist-90-R. Internal consistency (alpha = .79) and test-retest reliability (r = .83) were adequate. Used as estimates of concurrent validity, correlations of the SWLS with the BDI, SCL-90-R, and LSI were calculated and were consistently statistically significant. Findings indicate that the Arabic version of SWLS is suitable for use in research at least with university student samples.