Development and validation of the Indonesian Well-being Scale

The present study describes the development and validation of a new instrument to measure the well-being of Indonesian people. Items were generated by taking into account the recent cross-cultural developments in the literature. Participants (N = 1,028) from a number of provinces in Indonesia completed an online or a paper questionnaire containing a battery of measures, including the new well-being instrument. The total sample was randomly split into two equal groups. An exploratory factor analysis (n = 516) was conducted on one half to explore the factor structure of the new scale, which resulted in a 24-item scale with a fourfactor solution. The four factors were (a) Basic Needs, (b) Social Relation, (c) Acceptance, and (d) Spirituality. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the second half (n = 516), which confirmed the four-factor structure with 20 items emerging as the best and most parsimonious fit of the data. The psychometric properties of the final scale were tested on the whole sample. The new scale displayed sound internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and divergent, convergent, and discriminant validity. The scale has the potential to be used in future research which examines well-being in the Indonesia context. Future directions and limitations of the study are discussed.