Mental Health, Religion & Culture

ISSN: 1367-4676 (Print) 1469-9737 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cmhr20

Validating the Flourishing Scale and the Scale of

Positive and Negative Experience in India

Kamlesh Singh, Mohita Junnarkar & Snehlata Jaswal

To cite this article: Kamlesh Singh, Mohita Junnarkar & Snehlata Jaswal (2017): Validating the
Flourishing Scale and the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience in India, Mental Health,
Religion & Culture, DOI: 10.1080/13674676.2016.1229289

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2016.1229289

Published online: 10 Mar 2017.

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MENTAL HEALTH, RELIGION & CULTURE, 2016
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2016.1229289

Validating the Flourishing Scale and the Scale of Positive and

Negative Experience in India
Kamlesh Singha, Mohita Junnarkarb and Snehlata Jaswalc
a
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India;
b
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India; cLM Thapar
School of Management, Thapar University, Chandigarh, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

The psychometric properties of Flourishing Scale (FS) and the Scale Received 29 May 2016
of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) were examined in the Accepted 23 August 2016
Indian milieu in three separate studies. Firstly, reliability and
KEYWORDS
exploratory factor analysis was confirmed on a sample of 789 Well-being; Flourishing Scale;
adults for both the scales. Thereafter, the two measures were Scale of Positive and
administered to 608 adolescents. Confirmatory Factor Analysis Negative Experience; Mental
(CFA) supported the unidimensional structure of FS and Health Continuum
bidimensional structure of SPANE. A third sample of 786 adults
(18–65 years), besides providing further evidence of the factor
structure of the scales through confirmatory factor analyses, also
enabled the assessment of convergent validity by correlating the
scales with Mental Health Continuum and its factors (emotional
well-being, psychological well-being, and social well-being). These
factors were positively related with FS and Positive Experience
and Balance Subscales of SPANE and negatively related with the
Negative Experience Subscale of SPANE. It is evident that both
scales are reliable and valid in the Indian scenario.

Well-being is understood and assessed in many ways around the world. We examined the
validity of two recent and increasingly popular measures of well-being, namely the Flour-
ishing Scale (FS; Diener et al., 2010) and the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience
(SPANE; Diener et al., 2010), in the Indian context. These two measures assess two
rather antithetical notions – hedonism and eudemonia – that have long existed in the
west as the two major aspects of well-being (Diener et al., 2010; Ryan & Deci, 2001). Hedon-
ism implies maximising pleasure and minimising pain, whereas eudaimonia deems self-
realisation, personal growth, identifying and painstakingly cultivating one’s virtues, and
meaning in life, to be essential for well-being.
Earlier measures of well-being focused either on the hedonistic or the eudaimonic type
of well-being (Silva & Caetano, 2013). For instance, Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener,
Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) assessed the cognitive component of hedonism, and
the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) assesses the emotional component
of hedonism (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Scales that are based on the eudaimonic
view include Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-being (Ryff & Keyes, 1995) and Basic

CONTACT Kamlesh Singh singhk.iitd@gmail.com

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 K. SINGH ET AL.

Needs Satisfaction Scale (Ryan & Deci, 2001). Some researchers combined the hedonic and
eudaimonic components, and looked at well-being as a mixture of feeling good and func-
tioning well (Huppert & So, 2013). Well-being is conceptualised as an amalgamation of
feeling and functioning. Keyes (2002) proposed a mixed model of positive mental
health, which encompasses emotional well-being (EWB), psychological well-being
(PWB), and social well-being (SWB). On similar lines, another researcher stated that the
three vital elements of well-being were pleasure, engagement, and meaning (Seligman,
2002, 2011). His recent theory decomposes the construct of well-being into five elements,
namely, positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment,
essential for people to experience lasting happiness (Seligman, 2011).
Two separate measures namely the FS and the SPANE, respectively, assess the eudai-
monic and hedonistic concepts of well-being. Diener et al., (2010) hypothesise that both
the scales would yield a three-factor model (flourishing, positive feelings, and negative
feelings) which was later confirmed in another study (Howell & Buro, 2015). FS contains
eight items that measure the essential components of well-being espoused by many the-
ories. As measured by the scale items, the construct of flourishing comprises purpose in
life, positive relationships, engagement, competence, self-esteem, optimism, and contri-
bution towards the well-being of others. SPANE contains 12 items, six for assessing posi-
tive feelings (SPANE-P), and six for assessing negative feelings (SPANE-N). Each subscale
includes both specific feelings (such as joyful and sad) and general feelings (such as posi-
tive and negative). A third score SPANE-B, denoting balance between positive and nega-
tives experience, is also calculated by subtracting scores for SPANE-N from SPANE-P. Thus,
SPANE helps in understanding the full set of feelings of individuals across cultures in a
comprehensive manner, and gives them proper positive and negative weights. The
scale also reflects all levels of arousal of both positive and negative feelings unlike
earlier measures that focused only on high arousal items. Additionally, the scale considers
the amount of time the individual experiences each feeling over the “just passed” four
weeks. This allows the participant to evaluate experiences within recent memory,
without manifesting short-term or latent “mood” in the scores (Diener et al., 2010).
Both scales possess good psychometric properties. FS had Cronbach’s α higher than .80
(Diener et al., 2010). In the original study, one strong primary factor accounting for 53%
variance with an eigenvalue of 4.24 was revealed using principal axis factor analysis.
High correlations of the scale with other well-being measures, namely the Basic Needs Sat-
isfaction Scale (Ryan & Deci, 2001), Ryff’s Scale of Psychological Well-being (Ryff, 1989), and
Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985) demonstrated convergent validity.
The SPANE had Cronbach’s α of .87 for positive items, .81 for negative items, and .89 for
SPANE-B (Diener et al., 2010). Principal axis factor analysis for the positive items (SPANE-P)
showed one strong primary factor with an eigenvalue of 3.69 that accounted for 61% var-
iance. For the negative items (SPANE-N) also, one strong primary factor was revealed with
an eigenvalue of 3.19 that accounted for 53% variance. SPANE-P and SPANE-N correlated
negatively (r = −.60, p < .001). High correlations were found with other measures such as
PANAS (Watson et al., 1988), Fordyce’s measure of happiness (Fordyce, 1988), and Satisfac-
tion with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985).
Similar results have been reported by other researchers on different populations such
as Iranian, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese. In Iranian adults, FS demonstrated a unidi-
mensional factor with an eigenvalue of 4.75 which explained 59.46% of the variance.
 MENTAL HEALTH, RELIGION & CULTURE 3

Cronbach’s α was .89 (Khodarahimi, 2013). Concurrent validity of FS was established by

correlating it with the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985; Khodarahimi, 2013).
In Portuguese version, one strong factor with an eigenvalue of 3.77 accounted for 47%
variance and alpha coefficients of .83 and .78 in Samples 1 and 2, respectively. A multi-
group CFA on both samples supported a unidimensional model with the goodness of
fit indices being Goodness of Fit (GFI) = .97, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = .96, Normed
Fit Index (NFI) = .95, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = .04 (Silva, &
Caetano, 2013). For SPANE two strong factors, one for positive feelings and the other
for negative feelings, with eigenvalues 5.49 and 1.97, respectively, account for 62% of
the variance. Cronbach’s α was .90 in Sample 1 and .89 in Sample 2 for SPANE-P, .84 for
SPANE-N (both samples), and .88 for SPANE-B (both samples). The multi-group CFA sup-
ported the bi-dimensional model and the goodness of fit index values were GFI = .93,
CFI = .94, NFI = .92, and RMSEA = .059. Significant correlations with other measures of hap-
piness and well-being showed convergent validity (Silva & Caetano, 2013).
More than 20,000 Chinese full-time workers from power industry participated in vali-
dation study for SPANE. The results demonstrated that SPANE possessed high internal con-
sistency reliability, factorial validity, convergent validity with life satisfaction, and strict
equivalence across gender, age and marital status and strong equivalence across edu-
cation and income (Li, Bai, & Wang, 2013).
The Japanese versions of FS and SPANE were also observed to be valid and reliable
(Sumi, 2014a). Cronbach’s α ranged from .88 to .95 and principal axis factoring revealed
a single-factor structure of FS and two-factor structure of SPANE. Acceptable convergent
validity of the Japanese versions was demonstrated by correlations with life satisfaction,
subjective happiness, optimism, pessimism, positive and negative affect, depression,
anxiety, and psychological stress. The temporal stability of the Japanese versions indicated
acceptable test–retest reliability for FS-J (r = .87) and SPANE-J (r = .57–.60). CFA also sup-
ported the temporal stability of the factor structures of both scales over a one-month inter-
val. Together, both the studies provide evidence that the Japanese versions of FS and
SPANE are highly reliable and valid (Sumi, 2014b).
Validation studies on Portuguese, Iranian, and Japanese samples demonstrated that FS
and SPANE are reliable and valid scales. The current study was undertaken to examine the
validity of FS and SPANE in the Indian milieu. Some studies (Singh & Junnarkar, 2015;
Singh, Ruch, & Junnarkar, 2014) have used FS and SPANE on school students in Indian set-
tings. However, the factor structure and validity of the scales has been neither reported for
adults nor for adolescents. The current paper aims to fill that void.
Although we aimed to ascertain the psychometric properties of the two scales in an
Indian context, we decided to use the English version of all scales. Despite the linguistic
and conceptual differences across India, the knowledge of English and the meaning
ascribed to English words is fairly standard across India, perhaps more so than any other
Indian language. Hence it was decided to use the original tests, in English, in this study.
Initially, the internal consistency of each scale was determined, and component factors
were explored using principal axis factor analysis. With two subsequent samples of adoles-
cents and adults, the factor structure of the scales was further validated separately with
confirmatory factor analyses. Convergent validity of the scales was assessed by correlating
them with the total score and the factors of the Mental Health Continuum (Mental Health
Continuum Short Form, MHC-SF) namely EWB, PWB, and SWB. It was expected that the
4 K. SINGH ET AL.

total score for MHC-SF and each of its three factors would be positively related with FS,
SPANE-P, and SPANE-B, and negatively related with SPANE-N. Furthermore, it was postu-
lated that PWB and SWB will align highly with Flourishing and EWB with SPANE since Flour-
ishing, PWB, and SWB related to eudaimonic aspect of well-being and SPANE and EWB
align with hedonic aspect of well-being.

Method
Three studies were conducted in a sequence. Study 1 aimed to explore the internal con-
sistency and factor structure of FS and SPANE. Study 2 tested adolescents with similar
objectives. However, instead of using exploratory factor analyses (as was done in Study
1), confirmatory factor analyses were used in Study 2. Study 3 was carried out on adults,
primarily with an aim to assess the convergent validity of FS and SPANE with MHC-SF.

Participants
A new set of participants was recruited in each study. All participants were proficient in
English reading and comprehension.
In Study 1, the sample comprised 789 participants (66.8% males) in age range of 18–65
years with a mean age of 25.64 (SD = 6.76). Among these, 72% participants were single,
and 8.23% were married, but 20.15% participants did not report their marital status.
With regard to their level of education, 14.20% were undergraduates, 50.44% were gradu-
ates, and 11.79% were post-graduates. However, 23.57% participants did not report their
educational qualification.
In Study 2, 608 participants aged 11–17 years with a mean age of 14.95 years (SD = 1.45)
volunteered. Among these, 52.8% were boys and 47.2% were girls. They were pursuing their
education in government (6.1%) or private (93.9%) schools and were studying in class 8
(26.8%), 9 (6.7%), 10 (16.4%), 11 (43.4%), or 12 (6.6%). Most of them (97.9%) resided in
urban areas, with only 2.1% living in the rural areas of North India. They were staying in
nuclear (64%) or joint family (35%). The family structure was not disclosed by 1% adolescents.
In Study 3, total of 786 participants (51.52% females) in age range of 18–56 years with a
mean age of 24.56 (SD = 3.87) participated. Among these, 70.74% participants were single
whereas 8.14% participants were married, however 21.12% participants did not report
their marital status. With regard to educational achievement, 9.92% participants were
undergraduates, 49.49% were graduates, and 32.06% were post-graduates. However,
8.52% participants did not report their educational qualification.

Measures
The three measures used in these studies were.

Flourishing Scale (Diener et al., 2010)

The scale contains eight items covering various aspects of positive human functioning.
Items are scored with a range of 1–7, 1 indicating strong disagreement and 7 indicating
strong agreement. Scores can range from 8 (“strong disagreement” with all items) to 56
 MENTAL HEALTH, RELIGION & CULTURE 5

(“strong agreement” with all items). The items are all positively worded. A high score indi-
cates that the respondent views his or her own self positively.

Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (Diener et al., 2010)

It contains 12 items that are divided into two subscales with 6 items each. SPANE-P assesses
positive experience and SPANE-N assesses negative experience. Each item is scored on a
scale ranging from 1 (“very rarely or never”) to 5 (“very often or always”) to assess the respon-
dent’s positive or negative experience over the past four weeks. The positive and negative
scales are scored separately because of their partial independence (Diener et al, 2010).
Scores on each subscale (SPANE-P and SPANE-N) range from 6 to 30. The two scores are
combined by subtracting the negative score from the positive score, and the resulting
SPANE-B scores range from −24 to 24.

The Mental Health Continuum – Short Form (Keyes, 2009)

The MHC-SF has 14 items assessing well-being. The respondents use a 7-point rating scale
(0–6), “0” indicating “Never” and “6” indicating “Everyday”. The scale is divided into three
clusters. Cluster 1 comprising items 1, 2, and 3 represents EWB; cluster 2 comprising items
4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 represents SWB; and cluster 3 comprising items 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14
represents PWB. The ratings given to all items in each cluster are summed up to get the
total score for each cluster. The scores for the three clusters are summed up to get the
total score for the whole scale.
For all three measures in these studies, the original versions in English were used, as
English is the language commonly used in India and all participants were proficient in it.

Procedure
For Study 1 and 2, a booklet was prepared that comprised a set of standardised instructions
for participants, a demographic profile sheet, the FS, and the SPANE. In Study 2, authors con-
tacted different schools for data collection. Consent of school authorities was sought prior to
data collection. With the school principal’s consent, the research procedure and purpose
was described to the teachers and school counsellors. In the classroom, along with the
class teachers, the researchers distributed the test booklets to students. The students
were instructed to read all instructions and questions carefully and to choose the response
options that were most appropriate for them. For Study 3, MHC-SF was added to the booklet.
The respondents were recruited through incidental sampling. They were informed about
the aim of the study and were assured of their anonymity and the confidentiality of the
data. They were given a choice and participated in the study purely on a voluntary basis.

Results
For all three studies, the data were screened to check the minimum and maximum values
for each scale, and the preliminary frequency output was analysed for missing values. Fre-
quency analysis for each item indicated that missing values were under 5% and random in
nature, hence the missing values were imputed by means of regression as recommended
(Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). Descriptive statistics for all three samples appear in Table 1.
6 K. SINGH ET AL.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics.

Variable Study N Mean SD Minimum Maximum Cronbach’s α
FS 1 789 40.29 9.80 8.00 56.00 .80
2 608 45.99 6.95 9.00 56.00 .85
3 786 43.22 8.93 8.00 56.00 .91
SPANE P 1 789 20.12 6.51 6.00 30.00 .78
2 608 23.14 4.06 6.00 30.00 .80
3 786 21.93 4.21 6.00 30.00 .81
SPANE-N 1 789 12.25 6.95 6.00 30.00 .71
2 608 15.05 3.91 6.00 30.00 .75
3 786 15.45 4.31 6.00 30.00 .79
SPANE-B 1 789 5.52 7.96 −20.00 24.00 .79
2 608 7.89 6.95 −20.00 24.00 .82
3 786 6.48 6.99 −20.00 24.00 .83
Note: FS, Flourishing Scale; SPANE-P, Positive Experience; SPANE-N, Negative Experience; SPANE-B, Balance between Posi-
tive and Negative Experience.

Using the data from Study 1, principal axis factor analyses were carried out separately for
FS and SPANE to explore the factor structure of these scales and later factor structure for FS
and SPANE was explored combinedly to establish the hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of
well-being. For Study 2 and 3, CFA using LISREL 8.8 (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 2006) was used to
test if the factor structure matched the two-factor structure revealed in Study 1 and in the
previous studies. In addition, Study 3 estimated the convergent validity of FS and SPANE by
correlating the scales with the factors of MHC-SF. It was hypothesised that the total score for
MHC-SF and its factors (EWB, SWB, and PWB) would be positively related with FS, SPANE-P,
and SPANE-B and negatively related with SPANE-N. Finally, data from the three studies were
pooled to document gender differences in the variables of interest.

Exploratory factor analyses

The underlying structure of FS and SPANE was explored without any assumptions and con-
straints through exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Initially the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO)
test was used to measure sampling adequacy. Principal axis factor analysis with varimax
rotation was employed to explore EFA.
For the FS, total KMO was .93. Bartlett’s test of sphericity (χ 2 (28) = 5789.52, p < .001)
indicated that correlations between items were sufficiently large to perform EFA. EFA
with varimax rotation revealed only one strong factor with an eigenvalue of 5.96, account-
ing for 74.46% of the variance in the items. The factor loadings ranged from .91 to .82. For
SPANE, KMO was .87 and Bartlett’s test of sphericity (χ 2(66) = 3576.09, p < .001) indicated
that correlations between items were sufficiently large to perform EFA. The EFA results
indicated a two-factor solution with more than 1 eigenvalue having total explained var-
iance of 54.06%. SPANE-P (α = .84) components were rotated as factor 1 with loadings
ranging from .47 to.82 with an eigenvalue of 4.6 and accounted variance of 38.37% and
SPANE-N (α = .79) components loaded on factor 2 with loadings between .54 and .78
with an eigenvalue of 1.88 and accounted variance of 15.70%.
In a separate analysis, all 8 items of FS and 12 items of SPANE were explored together
for testing the factor structure of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. The KMO was .93
and Bartlett’s test of sphericity (χ 2(190) = 7245.57, p < .001) indicated that correlations
between items were sufficiently large to perform EFA. The EFA with varimax rotation indi-
cated a three-factor solution with more than 1.00 eigenvalue with total explained variance
 MENTAL HEALTH, RELIGION & CULTURE 7

of 57.16%. However, no other alternative factor structure with more than 1.00 eigenvalue
emerged. FS components rotated as factor 1 with loadings ranging from .83 to .71 with an
eigenvalue of 7.22 and variance as 36.09%. Factor 2 loaded as SPANE-P with loadings
ranging from .76 to .51 with an eigenvalue of 2.66 and accounted variance of 13.32%
and SPANE-N components loaded on factor 3 with loadings between .77 and .53 with
an eigenvalue of 1.55 and accounted variance of 7.75%.

Confirmatory factor analyses

Since the principal axis factor analysis conformed to the original structure (Diener et al.,
2010), data from Study 2 collected from 608 (11–17 years) adolescents were subjected
to confirmatory factor analysis. Table 2 displays the results of confirmatory factor analyses.
An invariant one-factor solution fit the data (GFI = .97, CFI = .98, NFI = .97, and RMSEA
= .072) for the FS scale. The standardised factor loadings ranged from .70 to .91 and
were all statistically significant with p < .001.
The bidimensional factor solution of SPANE was also confirmed (GFI = .96, CFI = .96, NFI
= .95, and RMSEA = .060). All items loaded on the relevant latent factors SPANE-P and
SPANE-N with a range from .30 to .74 (p < .01). The correlation between the two latent
dimensions of SPANE was negative (r = −.53).
Confirmatory factor analyses were also carried out on the data from adults obtained in
Study 3, to replicate and strengthen the conclusions regarding the factor structure of FS
and SPANE even though its primary aim was to test the convergent validity of these
scales with MHC-SF. The goodness of fit statistics for these analyses are also shown in
Table 2. Finally, a multi-group analysis tested the model of configural invariance by simul-
taneously evaluating the fit for 11–17 years adolescents and 18–56 years adult participants
for FS and SPANE structures. As shown in Table 2, the unidimensional (FS) and bidimen-
sional (SPANE) factor solution fit the data well suggesting an invariant one-factor and
two-factor solution for FS and SPANE, respectively. These results suggest that the assump-
tion of configurational invariance was confirmed thus supporting the unidimensional and
bidimensional factor structure of the scales in both the samples.
The hedonic and eudemonic well-being model was tested for adolescents and adults.
Table 3 indicates the fit indices for the well-being models. The correlated error terms were
excluded for reasons of parsimony (i.e., they had no theoretical basis); a good fit model of
well-being emerged for adolescents as well as adults. However, multi-group CFA for con-
figural invariance testing too was undertaken to confirm the model (see Table 3 and

Table 2. Goodness of fit statistics for tests of factorial validity of FS and SPANE.
Multi-group CFA
Adolescents (N = 608) Adults (N = 786) (N = 1394)
Measures of
goodness of fit Acceptable level FS SPANE FS SPANE FS SPANE
χ (df)
2
83.78 (20) 169.62 (53) 198.14 (20) 206.12 (53) 297.82 (48) 433.65 (119)
χ 2/df >5 is poor fit [22] 4.19 3.20 9.91 3.89 6.20 3.64
RMSEA >.10 is poor Fit [23] .07 .06 .11 .06 .09 .06
CFI >.95 is good fit [24] .98 .96 .98 .97 .98 .97
NFI >.95 is good fit [24] .97 .95 .98 .96 .97 .95
NNFI >.95 is good fit [24] .97 .96 .97 .97 .97 .96
GFI >.90 is good fit [20] .97 .96 .94 .96 .96 .95
AGFI >.90 is good fit [20] .94 .93 .89 .94 .93 .92
8 K. SINGH ET AL.

Figure 1), analysis of which revealed an acceptable model. As predicted, the model
demonstrates that flourishing is positively correlated with positive experiences and inver-
sely associated with negative experiences.

Convergent validity
Additional psychometric analyses were performed to assess the convergent validity of the
two scales. The correlations of FS and SPANE with MHC-SF (including PWB, EWB, and SWB)
were assessed. Table 4 presents these findings.
Substantial correlations were found between the FS and MHC-SF measures ranging
from .38 to .61 (N = 487, p < .001). For the SPANE, high correlations were observed with
the MHC-SF and its subscales ranging from −.25 to .59. For SPANE-P, the correlations
with MHC-SF and its subscales ranged from .40 to .56 and for SPANE-N, these ranged
between −.25 and −.41 (all p < .05). SPANE-P and SPANE-N correlated −.35 with each
other. The correlations between the FS and SPANE (all p < .05) are also shown in Table 3.

Additional analyses with pooled data

The means and SDs for males and females, calculated after pooling the data from the three
studies in this research, are shown in Table 5. These are reported with the aim that they will
aid in developing separate norms and/or calculating z scores for these groups.
There were a total of 2183 participants. However, only 2164 participants were included
for these analyses, because 19 participants did not report their gender. The t ratios are sig-
nificant for all comparisons. However, the effect size as assessed by Cohen’s d is very less,
hence we do not interpret the statistically significant differences as substantive differences.

Discussion
The current study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of FS and SPANE in the
Indian milieu. It was observed that FS demonstrated high internal consistency with

Table 3. Goodness of fit statistics for tests of factorial validity of hedonic and eudemonic model of well-
being.
Measures of goodness of fit Acceptable level Adolescents Adults Multi-group CFA
χ2
402.73 582.15 1066.34
df 167 167 357
χ 2/df >5 is poor fit 2.41 3.49 2.99
(Schumacker & Lomax, 2004)
CFI >.95 is good fit .97 .98 .97
(Hu & Bentler, 1999)
NFI >.95 is good fit .95 .97 .96
(Hu & Bentler, 1999)
NNFI >.95 is good fit .97 .98 .97
(Hu & Bentler, 1999)
GFI >.90 is good fit .94 .93 .93
(Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007)
AGFI >.90 is good fit .92 .91 .91
(Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007)
RMSEA >.10 is poor Fit .05 .06 .05
(MacCallum, Brown, & Sugawara, 1996)
 MENTAL HEALTH, RELIGION & CULTURE 9

Figure 1. Invariance model of well-being.

Table 4. Inter-correlation matrix and means and SDs for each variable in Study 3 (N = 786).
EWB SWB PWB MHC-SF FS SPANE-P SPANE-N SPANE-B
EWB (.84)
SWB .62a (.84)
PWB .63a .57a (.86)
MHC-SF .82a .87a .87a (.91)
FS .55a .38a .61a .59a (.91)
SPANE-P .56a .40a .52a .56a .58a (.81)
SPANE-N −.41a −.25a −.31a −.36a −.26a −.35a (.79)
SPANE-B .59a .40a .50a .56a .51a .82a −.83a (.83)
Mean 10.23 13.66 20.75 44.64 43.22 21.93 15.45 6.48
SD 3.25 5.64 5.76 12.60 8.93 4.21 4.31 6.99
Note: EWB, emotional well-being from MHC-SF; PWB –psychological well-being from MHC-SF; SWB , social well-being from
MHC-SF; MHC-SF, Mental Health Continuum Short Form total score; FS, Flourishing Scale; SPANE-P, Positive Experience;
SPANE-N, Negative Experience; SPANE-B, Balance between Positive and Negative Experience.
a
Correlation is significant at the .01 level (two-tailed). Numbers in parentheses in the diagonal are Cronbach’s α for the
respective scales.
10 K. SINGH ET AL.

Table 5. Means and SDs for males and females (pooled data N = 2164).
Groups→ Male (N = 1067) Female (N = 1097)
Variable↓ Mean SD Mean SD t Cohen’s d
FS 43.10 8.81 44.65 7.98 −4.29** −.18
SPANE-P 22.01 4.16 22.48 4.15 −2.66** −.11
SPANE-N 14.86 4.39 15.80 4.11 −5.19** −.22
Note: FS, Flourishing Scale; SPANE P, Positive Experience; SPANE-N, Negative Experience.
**p < .01.

Cronbach’s α ranging between .80 and .95. The other scale, SPANE, also possessed good
psychometric properties. The two subscales, SPANE-P for positive experience and
SPANE-N for negative experience, fared well under examination. The internal consistency
varied between .80 for SPANE-P and .77 for SPANE-N.
Principal axis factor analyses revealed that FS had a one-factor solution and SPANE had
a two-factor solution. Confirmatory factor analyses on adolescents and another sample of
adults also revealed similar results. Furthermore, a multi-group CFA testing a model of con-
figural invariance by simultaneously evaluating the fit of the Samples 1 and 2 model also
supported the unidimensional model for FS and bidimensional model for SPANE.
Although, χ 2 values were substantial in all confirmatory factor analyses (probably contin-
gent on the large sample sizes in all three studies), both absolute and incremental fit
indices provide enough evidence for good fit. Many experts (Hu & Bentler, 1999; Jöreskog,
1969) have opined that χ 2 is not a good index of fit in confirmatory factor analyses with
large samples, because it is greatly affected by sample size. Nevertheless, the absolute
and relative fit indices reported in Table 2 all provide solid evidence for a single factor
underlying FS, and two factors underlying SPANE. These results are in line with those
observed in the original study (Diener et al., 2010). Subsequently validation studies con-
ducted on Iranian (Khodarahimi, 2013), Portuguese (Silva & Caetano, 2013), and Japanese
(Sumi, 2014a, 2014b) populations to assess the psychometric properties of SPANE and FS
have also reported a single-factor solution for FS and two-factor solution for SPANE.
Additionally, the current paper explored the hedonic and edaimonic well-being model.
The model for adolescents and adults was confirmed. Multi-group CFA too indicated no
difference between the model for adolescent and adults, thus demonstrating that
hedonic and edaimonic well-being holds true for Indians. Aligning with this study,
Howell and Buro (2015) too demonstrated the tripartite model of well-being.
The convergent validity of FS and SPANE was assessed by correlating it with MHC-SF
and its subscales, PWB, SWB, and EWB. In line with expectations, FS, SPANE-P, and
SPANE-B correlated positively with MHC-SF and its three subscales, and SPANE-N corre-
lated negatively with MHC-SF and its subscales. All correlation coefficients were significant
(p < .01), and ranged from −.25 to .87 aligning with the results of Singh and Junnarkar
(2015). Singh and Junnarkar (2015) demonstrated similar results in Indian school going
adolescents.
The main aim of the current study was to explore and document the psychometric prop-
erties of FS and SPANE in the Indian population. Both measures were found to have good
psychometric properties in India. Both scales showed a factor structure similar to the original
scales, high internal consistency reliability, and satisfactory convergent validity. These find-
ings are in line with the original study and subsequent validation studies on Iranian, Portu-
guese, and Japanese samples (Diener et al., 2010; Khodarahimi, 2013; Sumi, 2014a, 2014b).
 MENTAL HEALTH, RELIGION & CULTURE 11

Further research could focus on other target groups such as working professionals, subdivid-
ing the sample according to occupations, and socioeconomic status. It would also be inter-
esting to examine the psychometric properties of a translated version of the scales with a
Hindi-speaking or other local language populations in India.

Compliance with ethical standards

Ethical standards were followed in the conduct of the study.

Research involving human participants

Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants
included in the study. Consent from school/college authorities wherever applicable was
also taken prior to the research. Further, participation was voluntary and participants
were free to withdraw from the research at any stage. The participants were briefed
before commencement and debriefed after completion of the study. They were also
made aware that the results would be used only for research purposes and confidentiality
of data would be maintained.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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