Development and Psychometrics Evaluation of the Happiness Scale for Africans

Behavioral Research Press. Grambling State University, Math Department, P.O. Box 1191, Grambling, LA 71245. Tel: 318-274-2425; Web site: http://erquarterly.org/

Y

25

Test Construction; Psychometrics; Psychological Patterns; Blacks; Indigenous Populations; Foreign Countries; Test Validity; Test Reliability; Factor Analysis

Nigeria; Ghana; South Africa; Sudan; Eritrea; Malawi; Kenya; Congo; Tanzania

0196-5042

There is dearth of research in happiness among Africans, because of no indigenous scale among the plethora of scales used in measuring happiness. Consequently, an indigenous happiness scale was conceived using a three stage method (stage 1 = 48, stage 2 = 408, stage 3 = 1468 participants). A sequential mixed method approach and cross sectional design were used for data collection and to validate the proposed happiness scale. The results indicated that the model fit was acceptable and confirmed one factor solution for the 23 items (SRMR = 0.065; PRATIO = 0.923; PNFI = 0.602; and PCFI = 0.615). The analyses further indicated that the scale showed a satisfactory internal consistency ([alpha] = 0.92). The scale had both convergent and discriminant validities with coefficients of 0.38 and -0.22 respectively. Therefore, the scale would serve as a "proxy" measure for happiness among the indigenous African population.

As Provided

2021

EJ1314784