Validation of a French adaptation of the Multidimensional Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale in its abbreviated form, for 5- to 11-year-old children with and without intellectual disability

Charlotte Coudronnière (1) , Fabien Bacro (1) , Philippe Guimard (1) , Jean-Baptiste Muller (2)

1 CREN - Centre de recherche en éducation de Nantes
2 CHU Nantes - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nantes

Background: The quality of life (QOL) of children with and without intellectual disability (ID) has become a growing concern in the literature but the QOL instruments are not adapted for use with young children and children with ID. The objective of this study was to validate a French adaptation of the abbreviated form of the Multidimensional Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS). Method: Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the data collected from 411 children aged between 5 and 11 years old. Internal consistency, test–retest fidelity, and convergent validity were tested. Results: The preliminary results of this study show that the model fitted the data collected to assess the life satisfaction of children, χ2 (395) = 705.340; p < .001; CFI = 0.911; TLI = 0.902; RMSEA = 0.044. Very good levels of internal consistency were obtained for both children with and without ID, with coefficients ranging from 0.70 to 0.88. The test–retest coefficients calculated after a 2-week interval highlighted a moderate (coefficients lower than 0.70) to weak temporal stability, which seemed more pronounced in children with ID. Conclusion: Despite some limitations, this instrument could be very useful for childhood professionals. It will enable them to assess the perception that children have of their wellbeing in the perspective of promoting their QOL. This scale also provides researchers in psychology with the opportunity to enrich their knowledge on the QOL of children with ID.

Mots clés: children with intellectual disability; quality of life; wellbeing; life satisfaction scale; French validation; self-assessment; children with intellectual disability

Domaines: Education

Charlotte Coudronnière, Fabien Bacro, Philippe Guimard, Jean-Baptiste Muller. Validation of a French adaptation of the Multidimensional Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale in its abbreviated form, for 5- to 11-year-old children with and without intellectual disability. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 2017, 43 (4), pp.407-420. ⟨10.3109/13668250.2017.1285012⟩. ⟨hal-01918941⟩