Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS)

This measure is for childrenThis is a free measure

The Students' Life Satisfaction Scale measures students’ satisfaction with life independently from other domains. The SLSS includes seven self-report statements which students answer on a 6-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. It’s designed specifically for students 8 to 18 years old. This measurement tool is free for school use and requires only a citation for use in any publication. A study of over 600 third to sixth graders found that “the SLSS does not appear to display differential psychometric properties as a function of a child’s race, at least with respect to black and white elementary school age children” (Huebner, 1995, pp. 320-321). Similarly, “satisfaction scores did not differ as a function of age, grade, or gender,” which further supports this tool’s reliability (Huebner, 1991). 

Pros for Schools

Cons for Schools

Easy and fast to administer
Strong validity & reliability
Combined with life satisfaction and gratitude measures, provides a 3- pronged chronological view of wellbeing: gratitude as past oriented, life satisfaction as present oriented, and hope as future oriented.

Provides little information about school-specific variables.

Suggestions for Further Research

Huebner, E. (1991). Initial development of the Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/0143034391123010  

Huebner, E. (1995). The Students' Life Satisfaction Scale: An assessment of psychometric properties with Black and White elementary school students. Social Indicators Research, 34(3), 315-323. https://edtechbooks.org/-nqnk 

Measurement Instrument Database for the Social Sciences (n.d.). Students' Life Satisfaction Scale. https://edtechbooks.org/-RhC 

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Access it online or download it at https://edtechbooks.org/wellbeing/SLSS.