Measurement equivalence of the subjective well-being scale among racially/ethnically diverse older adults

Objectives: The present study examined differences by race/ethnicity in the measurement equivalence of the Subjective Well-Being Scale (SWBS) among older adults in the United States. Method: Drawn from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), adults aged 65 years and older from three racial/ethnic groups (n = 1,200) were selected for the analyses from a total of 8,245: 400 non-Hispanic Whites, 400 African Americans, and 400 Hispanics/Latinos. We tested measurement equivalence of the SWBS that is categorized into three domains: positive and negative affect (four items), self-realization (four items), and self-efficacy and resilience (three items). Multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test measurement invariance. Results: After adjusting for age, gender, and education, the underlying construct of the SWBS was noninvariant across three racial/ethnic elderly groups. Discussion: Findings suggest that the comparison of latent means (especially for positive and negative affect and self-realization) across racial/ethnic groups is highly questionable. The SWBS should be used with extreme caution when it is applied to diverse racial/ethnic elderly groups for comparison purposes. Implications are discussed in cultural and methodological contexts.