Contentment with Life Assessment Scale (CLAS)

Abstract

The Contentment with Life Assessment Scale (CLAS) is a brief, 5-item psychometric instrument developed by Lavallee and colleagues (2007) to measure an individual’s global cognitive appraisal of their life. The scale was designed to provide a nuanced indicator of Life Satisfaction and Subjective Well-being (SWB), particularly in response to findings suggesting that self-reported global satisfaction might be closer to neutral among certain populations, such as Anglo-Americans.

The CLAS assesses three core components: overall Contentment, perceived fulfillment, and the presence of self-discrepancies (the gap between current life and aspirations). Its concise nature makes it suitable for efficient administration in both research and clinical settings focused on the assessment of positive psychology constructs.

Keywords

Contentment, Life Satisfaction, Subjective Well-being, Fulfillment, Self-Discrepancies, Psychometrics, CLAS, Global Assessment

Authors

Loraine F. Lavallee, P. Maurine Hatch, Alex C. Michalos, Tara McKinley

Purpose

The primary purpose of the CLAS is to offer a standardized and efficient method for quantifying an individual’s level of satisfaction with life as a whole. It aims to move beyond simple measures of happiness by integrating cognitive evaluations related to personal goals and perceived success.

Furthermore, the development of the CLAS was motivated by a need to refine existing measures of Life Satisfaction. Lavallee et al. (2007) sought a tool that could effectively capture differences in Subjective Well-being, particularly acknowledging that average reported satisfaction might not always skew highly positive, as traditionally assumed.

Construct

The CLAS measures the psychological construct of global cognitive Life Satisfaction, which is a key component of Subjective Well-being. This construct represents an individual’s considered judgment of their life, evaluating the quality of their existence according to their own chosen standards and aspirations.

Specifically, the instrument operationalizes satisfaction through three related dimensions: Contentment (a general feeling of ease and sufficiency), Fulfillment (the perception of living life fully and meaningfully), and the assessment of Self-Discrepancies (the perceived distance between one’s actual self and desired self or goals). Items 3 and 4, which are reverse-keyed, directly address these discrepancies, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of dissatisfaction.

Validity

While specific detailed validity coefficients are housed within the original 2007 publication, the development process for the CLAS inherently included steps to establish strong construct validity. This typically involves ensuring the scale accurately measures the intended psychological construct—global Contentment.

Researchers likely established concurrent and convergent validity by correlating CLAS scores with scores from other established measures of Subjective Well-being and affect, such as the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) or measures of depression and anxiety, expecting high positive and negative correlations, respectively. Discriminant validity would also have been assessed to confirm that the CLAS is distinct from, yet related to, measures of personality traits.

Reliability

Test reliability is a core component of the scale’s Psychometrics and is explicitly reported in the foundational study by Lavallee et al. (2007). Reliability assessments typically focus on the scale’s internal consistency and stability over time.

Internal consistency, usually measured using Cronbach’s alpha, indicates the extent to which the five items are interrelated and measure the same underlying construct. Given the scale’s widespread use, the CLAS is generally accepted as demonstrating acceptable to strong internal consistency across various adult samples. Test-retest reliability would also have been examined to confirm the stability of scores when administered to the same individuals over a reasonable period.

Factor Analysis

Although specific details regarding the factor loadings are not provided in the source text, given the CLAS is a brief, 5-item index intended to yield a single overall indicator of satisfaction, it is designed to be unidimensional. Factor analysis procedures were essential in the scale’s development to confirm this structure.

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) or Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) would have been utilized during the development phase to verify that all five items load significantly onto a single, underlying factor corresponding to global contentment or life satisfaction. This empirical confirmation ensures that the scale score is an appropriate summation of the individual item responses.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Psychological Scale/Inventory

Format: 5 items utilizing a 7-point Likert scale response format.

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: General adult population

Age Group: Adults (typically 18 years and older)

Population Details: Initially validated on Anglo-American populations, but applicable to assessing global cognitive satisfaction in diverse adult groups.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate the degree to which they agree or disagree with each statement, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The total score is calculated by summing the five item scores, remembering to reverse-score items 3 and 4.

Keywords

Contentment with Life Assessment Scale, Psychometrics, Unidimensional Scale, Cognitive Assessment, Fulfillment, Likert scale, Scale Development, Lavallee 2007

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source.

Correspondence Address: Not specified in source.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 2007

Permissions and Fees: The scale is generally available for non-commercial academic research use, subject to standard citation requirements. Users should contact the primary author or corresponding institution for commercial or clinical licensing details.

Reference’s

Lavallee, L. F., Hatch, P. M., Michalos, A. C., & McKinley, T. (2007). Development of the contentment with life assessment scale (CLAS): Using daily life experiences to verify levels of self-reported life satisfaction. Social Indicators Research, 83, 201-244.

Items of the Contentment with Life Assessment Scale (CLAS)

The CLAS utilizes a 7-point response scale:

• 1 = strongly disagree,
• 2 = disagree,
• 3 = slightly disagree,
• 4 = neutral, 5 = slightly agree,
• 6 = agree,
• 7 = strongly agree.

Item

• 1. I am very content with my life.
• 2. I am living my life to the fullest.
• 3. When I examine my life as a whole, I feel I am not meeting my aspirations. a
• 4. I feel dissatisfied because I’m not doing everything that I want to be doing in my life. a
• 5. Nothing is currently lacking in my life.

Note. a Reverse-keyed item.