Report on the construct validity of the temporal satisfaction with life scale

This study evaluated the factorial and convergent validity of the Temporal Satisfaction With Life Scale (TSWLS; Pavot, Diener and Suh, 1998), which was designed to measure past, present, and future life satisfaction. A sample of psychology undergraduates (N = 223) was administered a questionnaire containing the TSWLS and a global measure of past, present, and future subjective well-being (SWB), the Self-Anchoring Striving Scale (SASS; Kilpatrick and Cantril, 1960). Results of covariance structure analyses supported a 3-factor model (past, present, and future life satisfaction as distinct, yet correlated, factors) for the TSWLS, demonstrated that item responding was only slightly contaminated by an acquiescence bias, and showed that each of the past, present, and future dimensions of the TSWLS was most strongly related to its corresponding global SWB rating on the SASS. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.