Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)
Calculate your Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) score, a widely used 5-item questionnaire in psychology for measuring subjective well-being.
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Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)
Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin published the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) in 1985, and it remains the most cited instrument for measuring the cognitive side of subjective well-being. Rather than asking about specific areas of life or how someone feels at the moment, it asks how the person rates their life as a whole. There are just 5 statements, each answered on a 7-point Likert scale where 1 means strongly disagree and 7 means strongly agree.
You get the total by adding up the five items: total = item1 + item2 + item3 + item4 + item5, which lands somewhere between 5 and 35. The bands read as follows: 31–35 extremely satisfied, 26–30 satisfied, 21–25 slightly satisfied, 20 neutral, 15–19 slightly dissatisfied, 10–14 dissatisfied, and 5–9 extremely dissatisfied. When Gouveia et al. (2009) validated the scale in Brazil, they found a unifactorial structure and solid reliability (alpha ≈ 0.85).
Applications
It shows up across positive psychology, in large-scale studies on happiness and well-being, in the assessment of social policies, in public health and organizational research, and in the clinical follow-up of patients living with chronic conditions. Indicators built on the SWLS even feed into international reports like the World Happiness Report. Disclaimer: it does not replace a clinical evaluation.
FAQ
Does it measure momentary happiness? No. The SWLS captures a global, cognitive judgment about your life, which is far steadier than mood. If you want to track positive and negative affect in the moment, reach for the PANAS instead.
Why only 5 items? Diener showed that life satisfaction is a single-dimension construct, so a handful of questions already measures it with high reliability. Fewer questions also means less fatigue for the respondent.
Can it be repeated weekly? You can, but go easy. Satisfaction is a fairly stable trait, so running it again very often tends to surface little natural variation, and that can wear down the willingness to keep answering.
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The results provided by this tool are for general informational and educational purposes only and do not constitute professional, financial, medical, legal, tax or accounting advice. Always confirm important decisions with a qualified professional and official sources.