Development of an implicit overall well-being measure using the Implicit Association Test.
Usually, well-being has been measured by means of questionnaires or scales. Although most of these methods have a high level of reliability and validity, they present some limitations. In order to try to improve well-being assessment, in the present work, the authors propose a new complementary instrument: The Implicit Overall Well-Being Measure (IOWBM). The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was adapted to measure wellbeing by assessing associations of the self with well-being-related words. In the first study, the IOWBM showed good internal consistency and adequate temporal reliability. In the second study, it presented weak correlations with explicit well-being measures. The third study examined the validity of the measure, analyzing the effect of traumatic memories on implicit well-being. The results showed that people who remember a traumatic event presented low levels of implicit well-being compared with people in the control condition.
Díaz
Darío
D
Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Jurídicas y Humanidades, Universidad a Distancia de Madrid, Camino de La Fonda No 20. 28400 Collado-Villalba, Madrid, Spain. dario.diaz@uam.es
Horcajo
Javier
J
Blanco
Amalio
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D055815:Young Adult