Description

The Psychological Well-Being Scales – Short Scales (PWBS-86) are a self-report measure designed to assess an individual’s level of psychological well-being. According to the source material, the instrument consists of 86 items, with participants responding to statements using an agree–disagree response format. The scale follows a multidimensional approach to well-being and includes six distinct dimensions of positive psychological functioning.

Purpose

The main purpose of the PWBS-86 is to assess the individual level of psychological well-being, primarily in adults but also in adolescents. The scale focuses on how individuals experience their lives, their positive orientation toward cognitive and emotional states, and the extent to which they are able to respond constructively and positively to challenges, experiences, and interpersonal relationships.

Structure

The scale includes six core dimensions of psychological well-being:

Autonomy, referring to independence and self-directed functioning.

Environmental Mastery, referring to the ability to manage one’s environment and everyday demands effectively.

Personal Growth, reflecting the sense of continued development and personal maturation.

Positive Relations with Others, referring to the quality and functionality of interpersonal relationships.

Purpose in Life, relating to having goals, direction, and meaning in life.

Self-Acceptance, referring to a positive attitude toward oneself.

Scoring

Scoring is based on a Likert-type scale, in which participants indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement with each statement. The six subscales are scored separately and may also be combined to generate an overall psychological well-being index.

Higher scores indicate higher levels of psychological well-being.

The source material reports an overall mean score of 4.52 (SD = 0.83), while mean scores across the individual subscales ranged from 4.29 to 4.78.

Validity

The PWBS demonstrated good validity in both the original and Greek samples. According to the source material, correlations with other measures of self-esteem and psychopathology ranged from r = 0.60 to 0.70.

The Greek translation and adaptation of the scale are reported to have followed scientific standards intended to support content and cross-cultural validity.

Reliability

The six PWBS subscales demonstrated very good internal consistency, with Cronbach’s α values ranging from 0.87 to 0.93. Test–retest reliability was also reported as satisfactory, with coefficients ranging from r = 0.81 to 0.88.

For the Greek sample, the overall Cronbach’s α was 0.89, while values for the individual subscales ranged from 0.86 to 0.89.

Applications and Data Analysis

The PWBS-86 can be used to examine different aspects of psychological well-being in both general and clinical populations. Data may be analyzed at the level of the total score or the individual subscales and may be examined in relation to psychosocial variables, levels of psychopathology, or demographic characteristics.

The instrument may therefore be useful in research and psychotherapeutic applications where the aim is to investigate different dimensions of psychological well-being and their associations with broader indicators of psychological functioning.

References

Leontopoulou, S. (in preparation). Adaptation of the Psychological Well-Being Scale to the Greek population.

Ryff, C. D. (1989a). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations of the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081.

Ryff, C. D. (1989b). Beyond Ponce de Leon and life satisfaction: New directions in quest of successful ageing. International Journal of Behavioural Development, 12(1), 35–55.