Analysis of response style differences on the Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale between Croatian and American youth

Measurement equivalence has been noted as particularly important in cross-cultural research to ensure that attributes, attitudes, and/or perceptions are accurately assessed across groups of interest. Although response style differences appear to be a phenomenon noted across a variety of nations, few such studies have focused on youth and no studies have investigated response style differences in life satisfaction measures. In this investigation, 308 American and 227 Croatian youth were administered the Multdimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994) to assess their global satisfaction, as well as their satisfaction with friends, family, living environment, school and self. Results found no response style differences across most MSLSS domains, with the exception of self satisfaction and school satisfaction. American youth reported a greater tendency to respond to self and school satisfaction items at the positive end of the response continuum, while Croatian youth responded more frequently to the mid-point on self satisfaction items. Some gender differences were noted on the friendship and school satisfaction domains. A discussion of these findings and their implications conclude the paper