Reliability and Validity of the Persian Version of Pemberton Happiness Index

In order to investigate the reliability and validity of Pemberton Happiness Index (Hervás & Vázquez, 2013), 677 Islamic Azad University students from Tehran in 2015-16 were selected by stage sampling model and completed Pemberton Happiness Index. Based on the correlation coefficient of each item with the overall score of the index and confirmatory factor analysis of the index items, no items were omitted. The reliability of the index through internal consistency was 0.90 and test-retest reliability was 0.92. For convergent validity, the correlations between the index and Oxford Happiness Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Internality, Powerful Others and Chance Scale, and for divergent validity the correlations with Beck Depression Inventory-Short Form and Eysenck Personality Inventory Neuroticism Scale were reported. The convergent validity coefficients were calculated from 0.52 to 0.83 and divergent validity coefficients from -0.72 to -0.80. Using the principle component analysis and varimax and oblimin rotations led to the extraction of one factor, which explained 47.41% of the total variance. The one-factor structure of the index was confirmed and its indices showed good fitness. In conclusion, the results of this study suggested that Pemberton Happiness Index is a valid instrument in the university student samples and can be useful in further studies.