Brief Description
The Personal Wellbeing Index - School Children/Adolescents (PWI-SC) is an assessment designed to measure subjective well-being in school-aged children and adolescents aged 12 and up. It evaluates satisfaction across seven key life domains, such as standard of living, health, and personal relationships (e.g., "How happy are you with your health?"). Respondents rate their satisfaction using an 11-point scale, which ranges from 0 ("Not at all happy") to 10 ("Very, very happy"). The measure is used to assess the overall sense of well-being in school aged children and adolescents, providing insight into their perceived quality of life.
Assessment Administration Type
Child/Adolescent Self-Report
Number of questions
7
Age Range for Administration
12+
Recommended Frequency of Administration
No recommended standard frequency; Blueprint recommends monthly.
Summary of Scoring and Interpretations
Responses are rated on an 11-point Likert scale, ranging from 0-10. Scoring the PWI-SC involves calculating both individual domain scores as a normative range score and an overall subjective well-being score as an average of the normative range scores of the domains.
To find the normative range score for each domain, the PWI raw data score is multiplied by 10. Normative range scores can range from 0-100. Individual domain scores can be interpreted in isolation to assess satisfaction in specific areas.
To find the overall subjective well-being score, the normative range scores for each domain are summed and divided by 7 (the number of domains). This score, the Total Score produced by Blueprint, can be compared to normative data. For example, group mean scores for Western countries generally fall between 70-80 points, whereas group mean scores for people from Eastern countries and cultures may fall lower, between 60-70 points, due to cultural response bias and differences in perception around the terms ‘happiness’ and ‘life satisfaction.’
The developers of the PWI-SC stress the importance of examining responses for variation across items, recommending reconsidering the scores of respondents who consistently rate all items at the highest or lowest points on the scale. This lack of variation may suggest a misunderstanding of the task, which could affect the validity of the responses.
Blueprint Adjustments
Blueprint does not include the optional question "How happy are you with your life as a whole?” If desired, the clinician can ask this question verbally. This question is not included in scoring.
Clinical Considerations
Estimated time for completion: 1-3 minutes
Instructions from the author encourage the measure administrator to allow the respondent to complete the measure privately and assure them that all responses will remain confidential.
The version of the measure for adults, the Personal Well-being Index-Adults, is available on Blueprint.
Clinicians should consider interpreting scoring values lower (about 10 percentage points lower is recommended from research with the PWI-Adult) for culturally Asian populations due to cultural response bias and differences in perception around the terms “happiness” and “life satisfaction.”
Results can help identify areas to focus on during counseling or interventions, such as improving peer relationships, addressing health concerns, or enhancing feelings of safety.
The measure can be re-administered over time to monitor changes in perceived wellbeing following interventions.
Citation
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