Validation of Warwick Edinburg Mental WellBeing Scale among Married Couples

Abstract

International interest in the conceptualization and contribution of mental well-being to all aspects of human life is increasing day by day. There is an increased evaluation of initiatives on mental health promotion and the demand for development and validation of instruments at a population level to monitor mental well-being. The present study describes the validation of a scale that comprises different characteristics of positive mental health. The scale was validated among married individuals in Pakistan through Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Internal consistency and construct validity was explored by correlating the WEMWBS and other scales that revealed the convergent and discriminant validity. A single factor hypothesis was supported by Confirmatory factor analysis. Chronbach alpha reliability was found to be 0.90 (married couples). WEMWBS showed high convergent validity with happiness scale and relational humor scale. It also showed high discriminant validity by negatively correlating with perceived stress scale. The scale was normally distributed across the population and did not show ceiling effects. WEMWBS should plea to those evaluating initiatives on promotion of mental health; therefore, it is vital to establish the sensitivity of a scale before it is recommended in this context.