The Measurement of Happiness: Development of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness (MUNSH)

1980/11/01 by A. Kozma, Albert Kozma, M. J. Stones · 324 citations
Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Affect (linguistics) #Aging and Gerontology Research #Geography #Gerontology #Happiness #Health disparities and outcomes #Life satisfaction #Medicine #Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction #Psychology #Reliability (semiconductor) #Scale (ratio) #Social psychology #Test (biology)

paper · doi:10.1093/geronj/35.6.906

published in Journal of Gerontology 35(6), 906-912 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 1980/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/26

Abstract

Items of the Affect Balance Scale, the Life Satisfaction Index-Z and the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Scale together with 22 new items were used in the construction of a happiness scale for the elderly. Items were initially administered to 301 subjects from urban, rural, and institutional settings and correlated with ratings of happiness. A new scale consisting of 24 items was cross-validated on an additional 297 subjects. Test-retest reliability scores were obtained on 56 subjects. Results indicated that the new scale was a better predictor of "avowed happiness" in both validation and cross-validation samples than the existing scales used for comparison. Moreover, the new scale's test-rated reliability was within an acceptable range for this type of scale.

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