A Confirmatory Test of the Factor Validity of Scores on the Spiritual Well-Being Scale in a Community Sample of African Americans:

This study examined a five-factor model of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS; Ellison, 1983) proposed by Miller, Fleming, and Brown-Anderson (1998). A confirmatory factor analytic procedure was conducted to determine whether the Miller et al. model fit the data for the current sample of African Americans. For comparative purposes, several alternative SWBS models were included in the study's design. The findings indicated that none of the SWBS models provided an adequate fit to the data for the current sample. Implications for future use of the SWBS with African American populations are discussed. ********** The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS; Ellison, 1983) is a popular and widely used measure of subjective well-being and overall life satisfaction. Since its development the SWBS has been used for research purposes in a variety of settings (e.g., university, community, clinical, religious), and with diverse participant groups (e.g., psychiatric, community, college students, persons with cancer, and persons with HIV/AIDS). A review of the health, subjective well-being, and spirituality literature revealed that the instrument is increasingly popular with researchers studying quality-of-life issues among African Americans. Despite this increasing popularity, there have been few efforts aimed at evaluating the instrument's psychometric integrity with African American populations. One study, conducted by Miller, Fleming, & Brown-Anderson (1998), compared the underlying factor structure of the SWBS in a sample of Caucasian American and African American participants. Their findings indicated that a three-factor SWBS model best fit the data for the Caucasian American sample while a five-factor model emerged for the African American sample. The current study was a confirmatory test of the Miller et al (1998) five-factor solution and several alternative SWBS models with a community sample of African Americans. The SWBS is a 20-item paper and pencil self-report measure of well-being that consists of the following three dimensions: (a) religious well-being (RWB), (b) existential well-being (EWB), and (c) overall spiritual well-being (SWB; Paloutzian & Ellison, 1982). Building on the conceptual work of Moberg (1971), Ellison and his colleagues (Ellison, 1983; Paloutzian & Ellison, 1979, 1983) developed the SWBS to capture both the vertical and horizontal nature of spiritual well-being. The vertical component assesses spiritual well-being in relation to an individual's relationship with God. A sample item for this domain is, "My relation with God contributes to my sense of well-being." The horizontal component, however, assesses one's sense of purpose and satisfaction with life, absent any religious dimension. A sample item from this domain includes, "I believe there is some real purpose for my life." Items on the SWBS are rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 to 6 (1 = strongly agree and 6 = strongly disagree), with higher scores indicating greater levels of well-being. The odd-numbered items comprise the RWB subscale while the even-numbered items comprise the EWB subscale. To derive a SWB score, the RWB and EWB scores are totaled (Ellison & Paloutzian, 1991). Psychometrically, there is considerable evidence to support the SWBS as a reliable and valid measure of subjective well-being and quality of life. For example, Paloutzian and Ellison (1982) reported test-retest coefficients with a one-week interval ranging as follows: .96 for the RWB, .86 for the EWB, and .93 for the SWB. Bufford, Paloutzian, & Ellison (1991) reported test-retest coefficients ranging from .88 to .99 for the three scales at 4, 6, and 10 weeks. With regard to internal consistency, researchers have reported Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from .87 to .91 for the RWB, .78 to .91 for the EWB, and .76 to .93 for the SWB (Ellison, 1983; Fernander, Wilson, Staton, & Leukefeld, 2004; Genia, 2001). …