Psychometric characteristics of the Flourishing Scale-Spanish Version (FS-SV). The factorial structure in two samples: Students and patients with chronic pain

Abstract The Flourishing Scale was developed by Diener based on recent theories of psychological wellbeing. This article tested some of the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Flourishing Scale (FS-SV). Participants were 545 university students (Sample 1) and 111 patients with chronic back pain (Sample 2). Participants completed a battery of instruments to assess flourishing, trait-anxiety, dispositional optimism, dispositional pessimism, and positive and negative affect. In both samples, the results of Principal Axis Factor and Simultaneous Component Analyses showed that the FS-SV scores had a common unidimensional structure. The Omega coefficient showed high reliability for scale scores. The generalizability of the FS-SV structure was analysed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Test-retest reliability, criterion validity, and models that included flourishing as a mediator of the associations between personality variables and positive and negative affect were analysed in Sample 1. Results provided support for a single construct in both samples. Flourishing appeared as a mechanism that may account for the association between anxiety, optimism, pessimism, and positive affect. In line with previous studies, these findings extend the concept of flourishing.