Steen Happiness Index (SHI)

Abstract

The Steen Happiness Index (SHI) is a concise, 20-item self-report scale designed to measure global subjective happiness, developed by Steen, Seligman, Park, and Peterson. Grounded in the foundational principles of positive psychology, the SHI aims to capture the three core components of a flourishing life: the Pleasant Life (positive emotions), the Engaged Life (flow and absorption), and the Meaningful Life (purpose and service). It functions as a robust assessment tool primarily used to evaluate the efficacy of positive psychological interventions.

Keywords

Steen Happiness Index, Positive psychology, Happiness, Subjective well-being, Pleasure, Engagement, Meaning in life, Psychological assessment.

Authors

T. A. Steen, M. E. P. Seligman, N. Park, C. Peterson

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Steen Happiness Index (SHI) is to provide a brief, reliable, and valid instrument for quantifying an individual’s level of comprehensive happiness. Its development was closely linked to empirical research validating the impact of various positive psychology exercises and interventions, serving as a critical outcome measure in these studies.

The scale allows researchers and practitioners to move beyond traditional measures of distress by focusing on the presence of positive states and characteristics associated with a fulfilled existence. It offers a practical method for tracking changes in well-being over time, particularly in response to therapeutic or developmental programs aimed at increasing life satisfaction.

Construct

The SHI measures the multifaceted construct of psychological well-being, often referred to as the “Full Life” in the context of positive psychology. This construct integrates three primary dimensions:

• The Pleasant Life: Focused on hedonic feelings and positive emotions, assessing the frequency and intensity of pleasure experienced in daily life.

• The Engaged Life: Measuring the degree to which an individual experiences flow, absorption, and deep involvement in activities, often characterized by high energy and intrinsic interest.

• The Meaningful Life: Reflecting eudaimonic well-being, pertaining to the sense of purpose, belonging, and the perception that one’s life contributes positively to the world or a greater cause.

While the items map onto these three theoretical components, the SHI is typically scored additively to yield a single total score representing global subjective well-being.

Validity

The validity of the SHI is supported by its strong empirical performance in validation studies. It demonstrates robust criterion validity by correlating significantly and appropriately with established measures of mental health; specifically, showing positive correlations with measures of life satisfaction and subjective well-being, and inverse correlations with measures of depression and negative affect.

Furthermore, the scale exhibits sensitivity to change following targeted positive interventions. This responsiveness confirms the instrument’s utility in capturing genuine shifts in happiness levels, reinforcing its application in experimental research focused on enhancing well-being.

Reliability

The Steen Happiness Index demonstrates strong internal consistency, confirming that its 20 items reliably cohere to measure the overall construct of happiness. Published psychometric analyses typically report Cronbach’s alpha values in the high acceptable range, indicating homogeneity among the items.

Additionally, the scale possesses good test-retest reliability over appropriate intervals, suggesting that the measure provides stable readings of an individual’s typical level of subjective well-being, which is crucial for psychological scales intended to measure enduring traits or states.

Factor Analysis

Although conceptually derived from a tripartite model, factor analytic studies often reveal that the 20 items of the SHI are best explained by a dominant, unitary factor of overall happiness or subjective well-being. This finding is common among global happiness scales, where the various facets of well-being are highly intercorrelated.

While researchers may use certain items to represent the Pleasant, Engaged, or Meaningful life subcomponents for theoretical investigation, the primary and most reliable application of the SHI remains the calculation of a single, comprehensive total score ranging from 20 to 100.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Questionnaire / Subjective Well-being Scale

Format: 20 items, 5-point Likert-type scale (ranging from 1, low happiness/satisfaction, to 5, high happiness/satisfaction).

Language Available: English (Original), widely adapted for international research.

Population Group: General Population (Adults)

Age Group: 18 years and older (Adults)

Population Details: Developed and validated on diverse adult populations undergoing positive psychology interventions, demonstrating applicability across various demographic groups.

Test Methodology: Self-administered, quick assessment typically taking less than five minutes to complete. Scoring involves summing the responses to obtain a total happiness score.

Keywords

SHI, Subjective well-being, Life satisfaction, Positive emotion, Flow state, Meaning in life, Psychometric instrument, Psychological assessment, Intervention outcome measure.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not readily available in source material)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not readily available in source material)

Correspondence Address: N/A (Information not readily available in source material)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Steen Happiness Index was introduced in 2005 through the seminal publication “Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions.” The scale is generally utilized freely within academic and non-commercial research contexts. The instrument details and scoring methodology were published in 2013 in the resource, Tools for strengths-based assessment and evaluation.

Reference’s

• Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410–421.

• Steen et al. (2005). Steen Happiness Index. In: Simmons C. A., Lehmann P. (eds). Tools for strengths-based assessment and evaluation, New York, NY: Springer, pp. 81-85. (2013). This instrument can be found via Google Scholar.

Items of the Steen Happiness Index (SHI)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Question 1

A. I dislike my daily routine. (1)

B. I neither enjoy nor dislike my daily routine. (2)

C. I enjoy my daily routine‚ but I do like to get away from it. (3)

D. I enjoy my daily routine so much that I rarely take breaks from it. (4)

E. I enjoy my daily routine so much that I almost never take breaks from it. (5)

Question 2

A. I feel disconnected from other people. (1)

B. I feel neither connected nor disconnected from other people. (2)

C. I feel connected to friends and family members. (3)

D. I feel connected with most people‚ even if I do not know them well. (4)

E. I feel connected to everyone in the world. (5)

Question 3

A. I feel like a failure. (1)

B. I do not feel like a success. (2)

C. I feel like I have succeeded more than the average person. (3)

D. As I look back on my life‚ all I see are a lot of successes. (4)

E. I feel I am an extraordinarily successful person. (5)

Question 4

A. Most of the time I am bored. (1)

B. Most of the time I am neither bored nor interested in what I am doing. (2)

C. Most of the time I am interested in what I am doing. (1)

D. Most of the time I am quite interested in what I am doing. (2)

E. Most of the time I am fascinated by what I am doing. (3)

Question 5

A. I am displeased with myself. (1)

B. I am neither pleased nor displeased with myself—I am neutral. (2)

C. I am pleased with myself. (3)

D. I am very pleased with myself. (4)

E. I could not be any more pleased with myself. (5)

Question 6

A. When I am working on a task‚ I often feel frustrated. (1)

B. When I am working on a task‚ sometimes I feel frustrated and sometimes I don’t. (2)

C. When I am working on a task‚ I am usually not frustrated. (3)

D. When I am working on a task‚ I am rarely frustrated. (4)

E. When I am working on a task‚ I am almost never frustrated. (5)

Question 7

A. I am joyless. (1)

B. I am neither joyful nor joyless. (2)

C. I am more joyful than joyless. (3)

D. I am much more joyful than joyless. (4)

E. Almost everything about my life fills me with joy (5)

Question 8

A. I dislike my work (paid or unpaid). (1)

B. I neither like nor dislike my work. (2)

C. For the most part‚ I like my work. (3)

D. My work gives me great satisfaction. (4)

E. My work provides true and deep satisfaction. (5)

Question 9

A. I have made more bad choices than good in life. (1)

B. Some of the choices I have made in life have been good; some have been bad. (2)

C. I have made more good choices than bad in life. (3)

D. I have made mostly good choices in life. (4)

E. Even if I could‚ I would not change any of the choices I have made. (5)

Question 10

A. Life is bad. (1)

B. Life is okay. (2)

C. Life is good. (3)

D. Life is very good. (4)

E. Life is wonderful. (5)

Question 11

A. My life does not have a purpose. (1)

B. I do not know my purpose in life. (2)

C. I have a hint about my purpose in life. (3)

D. I have a pretty good idea about my purpose in life. (4)

E. I have a very clear idea about my purpose in life. (3)

Question 12

A. I have little or no energy. (1)

B. My energy level is neither high nor low. (2)

C. I have a good amount of energy. (3)

D. I feel energetic doing almost everything. (4)

E. I have so much energy that I feel I can do most anything. (5)

Question 13

A. I experience more displeasure than pleasure. (1)

B. I experience pleasure and displeasure in equal measure. (2)

C. I experience more pleasure than displeasure. (3)

D. I experience much more than pleasure than displeasure. (4)

E. My life is filled with pleasure. (5)

Question 14

A. Time passes slowly during most or all of my activities. (1)

B. Time passes quickly during some of my activities and slowly for others. (2)

C. Time passes quickly during most of my activities. (3)

D. Time passes quickly during all of my activities. (4)

E. Time passes so quickly during all of my activities that I do not even notice it. (5)

Question 15

A. I am ashamed of who I am. (1)

B. I am not ashamed of who I am. (2)

C. I am proud of who I am. (3)

D. I am very proud of who I am. (4)

E. I am extraordinarily proud of who I am. (5)

Question 16

A. I am discouraged about the future. (1)

B. I am neither encouraged nor discouraged about the future. (2)

C. I feel somewhat encouraged about the future. (3)

D. I feel quite encouraged about the future. (4)

E. I feel extraordinarily encouraged about the future. (5)

Question 17

A. When I am working on a task‚ I pay more attention to what is going on around me than I do to the task. (1)

B. When I am working on a task‚ I pay as much attention to what is going on around me as I do to the task. (2)

C. When I am working on a task‚ I pay more attention to the task than to what is going on around me. (3)

D. When I am working on a task‚ I rarely notice what is going on around me. (4)

E. When I am working on a task‚ I pay so much attention to it that the outside world practically ceases to exist. (5)

Question 18

A. Every day I spend almost all of my time doing things that are unimportant. (1)

B. Every day I spend a lot of time doing things that are neither important nor unimportant. (2)

C. Every day I spend some time doing things that are important. (3)

D. I spend the greater part of each day doing things that are important. (4)

E. Practically every moment of my day is spent doing things that are important. (5)

Question 19

A. I am pessimistic. (1)

B. I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic. (2)

C. I am optimistic. (3)

D. I am very optimistic. (4)

E. I am the most optimistic person I know. (5)

Question 20

A. If anything‚ what I do has a negative effect on the world. (1)

B. In the grand scheme of things‚ my existence neither helps nor hurts the world. (2)

C. I am making a small but positive difference in the world. (3)

D. I am making the world a better place. (4)

E. My life is ha‎ving a lasting‚ positive impact on the world. (5)