Attitudes found associated with life satisfaction:
(1) zest for life, as opposed to apathy
(2) resolution and fortitude, as opposed to resignation
(3) congruence between desired and achieved goals
(4) high physical, psychological and social self-concept
(5) happy, optimistic mood tone
Questions/Statements - 20 items
Responses: agree, disagree, unsure ("?")
Scoring:
(1) "agree" scored 2 point: Items 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19
(2) "disagree" scored 2 point: Items 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 17, 18, 20
(3) unsure "?" scored 1 point
(4) otherwise 0 points
(5) In the initial version (Neugarten, 1961), (1) 1 point was used for all 2 point items above; everything else was 0; (2) scoring "?" as 0 points would tend to make the intermediate person look more dissatisfied than they really are.
life satisfaction index =
= SUM(points for the 20 statements)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 40
• The higher the score, the greater the life satisfaction.
