Life Satisfaction among Indigenous People from Chile: Evaluation of Measurement Invariance

Abstract Although the Life Satisfaction Scale (SWLS) has been used to establish comparisons among nations/cultures, the measurement invariance of this scale has not always been demonstrated. The forced acculturative experience of indigenous minorities and its differentiation of gender roles could impact how people respond to this scale. The purpose of this study was to examine the measurement invariance of the SWLS when it is applied to a Chilean indigenous group, considering gender and their most frequent acculturative types (i.e., acculturated and bicultural). Eight hundred adults of Mapuche origin answered a Spanish version of the SWLS and the Mapuche Acculturation Scale. The results supported the SWLS strict invariance between acculturated and bicultural and also between acculturated men and women. Partial strict invariance was found between bicultural men and women; specifically, the residual variance of Item 3 was higher in women than in men. Since Spanish is a gendered language, a linguistic explanation is proposed for the non-invariance of this item. The importance of careful wording of the items, when administered in multilanguage acculturation contexts, is discussed.