Radosveta Dimitrova

The Satisfaction With Life Scale: Measurement invariance across immigrant groups

The current study examined measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) across three immigrant groups, namely, immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel, Turkish-Bulgarians, and Turkish-Germans. The results demonstrate measurement invariance of the SWLS across groups. The findings that Turkish-Bulgarian and FSU immigrants in Israel scored significantly lower on the SWLS compared to Turkish-Germans can be explained by assimilative policies in Israel and Bulgaria. In conclusion, our results suggest the SWLS is feasible for cross-cultural comparisons of immigrants of various age groups. Future investigation of measurement invariance over time is needed to use the SWLS in a developmental perspective.

Global perspectives on well-being in immigrant families

Global Perspectives on Well-Being in Immigrant Families addresses how immigrant families and their children cope with the demands of a new country in relation to psychological well-being, adjustment, and cultural maintenance. The book identifies cultural and contextual factors that contribute to well-being during a familys migratory transition to ensure successful outcomes for children and youth. In addition, the findings presented in this book outline issues for future policy and practice including preventive practices that might allow for early intervention and increased cultural sensitivity among practitioners, school staff, and researchers.

Socially desirable responding : enhancement and denial in 20 countries

This article investigated the dimensionality, measurement invariance, and cross-cultural variations of social desirability. A total of 3,471 university students from 20 countries completed an adapted version of the Marlowe–Crowne scale. A two-dimensional structure was revealed in the pooled sample, distinguishing enhancement (endorsement of positive self-description) and denial (rejection of negative self-description). The factor structure was supported in most countries; medium-sized item bias was found in two denial items. In a multilevel analysis, we found that (a) there was more cross-cultural variation in denial than enhancement; (b) females tended to score higher on enhancement whereas males tended to score higher on denial; (c) the Human Development Index, an indicator of country socioeconomic development, was the best (negative) predictor of denial; and (d) both enhancement and denial seemed to be associated with country-level values and personality pertinent to “fitting in.” We conclude that social desirability has a positive and a negative impression management dimension that are meaningfully associated with country-level characteristics, and we argue that social desirability is better interpreted as culturally regulated response amplification.

From a Collection of Identities to Collective Identity Evidence From Mainstream and Minority Adolescents in Bulgaria

We studied collective identity and psychological well-being in Bulgarian adolescents (305 mainstreamers, 278 Turkish-Bulgarians, and 183 Muslim-Bulgarians). Turkish-Bulgarian and Muslim-Bulgarian minorities (ethnic Bulgarians converted to Islam during the Ottoman Empire) have been subjected to severe assimilation policies until recently. A multigroup confirmatory analysis showed that ethnic, religious, and familial identities were significantly and positively related to a single underlying factor we labeled collective identity. Bulgarian identity was unrelated to collective identity in the Turkish-Bulgarian group. As expected, mainstream adolescents showed a stronger Bulgarian and weaker religious identity than Turkish-Bulgarian and Muslim-Bulgarian adolescents. In all groups, individuals with a stronger collective identity reported higher levels of well-being. We conclude that the concept of collective identity is useful to link various identity components to well-being of youth from different ethnic groups.

Developmetrics. The satisfaction with life scale: measurement invariance across immigrant groups

The current study examined measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) across three immigrant groups, namely, immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel, Turkish-Bulgarians, and Turkish-Germans. The results demonstrate measurement invariance of the SWLS across groups. The findings that Turkish-Bulgarian and FSU immigrants in Israel scored significantly lower on the SWLS compared to Turkish-Germans can be explained by assimilative policies in Israel and Bulgaria. In conclusion, our results suggest the SWLS is feasible for cross-cultural comparisons of immigrants of various age groups. Future investigation of measurement invariance over time is needed to use the SWLS in a developmental perspective.

Measurement Invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale Among Adolescents and Emerging Adults Across 23 Cultural Contexts

There is hardly any cross-cultural research on the measurement invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scales (BMSLSS). The current article evaluates the measurement invariance of the BMSLSS across cultural contexts. This cross-sectional study sampled 7,739 adolescents and emerging adults in 23 countries. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit of configural and partial measurement weights invariance models, indicating similar patterns and strengths in factor loading for both adolescents and emerging adults across various countries. We found insufficient evidence for scalar invariance in both the adolescents’ and the emerging adults’ samples. A multi-level confirmatory factor analysis indicated configural invariance of the structure at country and individual level. Internal consistency, evaluated by alpha and omega coefficients per country, yielded acceptable results. The translated BMSLSS across different cultural contexts presents good psychometric characteristics similar to what has been reported in the original scale, though scalar invariance remains problematic. Our results indicate that the BMSLSS forms a brief measure of life satisfaction, which has accrued substantial evidence of construct validity, thus suitable for use in cross-cultural surveys with adolescents and emerging adults, although evaluation of degree of invariance must be carried out to ensure its suitability for mean comparisons.

Measurement invariance of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) across Bulgarian, Dutch and Greek samples

The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM; Phinney, 1992) is a widely used instrument to quantify the way people think, feel, and behave regarding their ethnic origin. This instrument is commonly used to compare groups of people from different ethnic and/or cultural backgrounds. However, in order for these comparisons to be accurate, measurement invariance between groups needs to be tested and this is what has been done in the current study. First, confirmatory factor analyses were conducted separately for data sets with Bulgarian, Dutch, and Greek adolescents. Second, configural and scalar invariance were tested. Finally, comparisons between Bulgarian, Dutch, and Greek adolescents were made on their scores on MEIM.

Measurement Invariance of the Satisfaction with Life Scale in Argentina, Mexico and Nicaragua

The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) is one of the most widely used scales for the measurement of well-being. Nevertheless, its measurement invariance and factor structure have not been investigated simultaneously across culturally diverse samples in Latin America. The current paper evaluates the factorial structure and measurement invariance of SWLS (the degree to which the scale measurements conducted across different populations exhibit identical psychometric properties) as to provide solid and accurate basis for cultural group comparisons. We apply measurement invariance testing procedures using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) to investigate the factorial structure and invariance of the scale across three cultural groups from Argentina, Mexico and Nicaragua. We also estimate and compare latent means of life satisfaction across groups. Participants were 921 adults (mean age 29.66, SD = 11.48) from Argentina (n = 192), Mexico (n = 421) and Nicaragua (n = 302). First, confirmatory factor analyzes (CFA) conducted separately for each cultural group provided support for the one-factor structure of the instrument. Second, the MGCFA showed good configural, metric and scalar invariance models, indicating similar patterns and strengths in factor loadings, means and intercepts across cultural samples. Third, latent mean comparisons did not show group differences in life satisfaction. We conclude that the SWLS is a brief and valid measure of life satisfaction that can be used for cross-cultural comparison with samples from Argentina, Mexico and Nicaragua.

Are Immigrant Children in Italy Better Adjusted than Mainstream Italian Children

The purpose of this study was to examine the association of immigrant status with psychosocial adjustment in Albanian and Serbian immigrants compared to Slovene and Italian mainstream children by addr

Social connectedness, life satisfaction and school engagement : moderating role of ethnic minority status on resilience processes of Roma youth

Abstract We examined the influence of connectedness on school engagement and life satisfaction among Roma (n = 121) and Bulgarian (n = 143) mainstream adolescents (mean age 15.89, SD = 1.18). A set of measures on family, peer, school and neighbourhood connectedness were administered alongside life satisfaction and school engagement scales. Multigroup path analysis indicated that while the relationship between connectedness, life satisfaction and school engagement was largely the same across groups, the strength of such relationship differed among groups. A closer inspection of the model indicated that when it comes to school engagement, there was a salient difference in the role of different forms of connectedness between Roma and mainstream adolescents. For Roma adolescents, familial connectedness was especially salient for school engagement. The practical and theoretical implications of our findings for strengths and adaptive processes among Roma adolescents in Bulgaria are discussed.