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The International Journal of Educational and Psychological Assessment

May 2012, Vol. 10(2)

Cross Validation of Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-being: Translation into

Urdu Language

Tahira Jibeen
Department of Humanities
COMSATS Institute of Information and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

Ruhi Khalid
Institute of Psychology,
Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Utilizing data on Pakistani immigrants in Canada, this study examined the structural
validity of an Urdu translation of Ryff’s Scales of Psychological wellbeing (54-items)
with six sub-scales: self-acceptance, positive relations, autonomy, environmental
mastery, personal growth and purpose in life. Analyses were based on data from
308 adult Pakistani immigrants between 25–50 years living in Toronto, Canada with
a mean age of 35.8 years (SD = 7.31). The calculated internal item correlation
coefficients of the translated scales cronbach’s alpha= (0.843), and standardized
item alpha= (0.841) were significantly higher than the original Ryff scales. However,
the internal consistency coefficients of the subscales were modest to low (r = 0.25 to
0.65). Additionally, positive relationship was observed between psychological well-
being and age, perceived income comfort, job relevance, social support,
expectations and willingness to migrate to Canada. The present findings
demonstrated the adequacy of the Urdu version of the Ryff’s psychological well-
being scale (54-items) for assessing psychological well-being in both clinical and
research settings.

Keywords: psychological well-being, Ryff’s scales, Urdu translation, perceived

income comfort level, social support, willingness, expectations

Introduction

The study of well-being has received ever increasing special attention in the
last decade, predominantly incorporated into the field of positive psychology
(Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). The hedonic viewpoint primarily
encompasses the principle of accumulation of pleasure and rejection of pain, but
has been criticized due to the fact that it neglects important aspects of positive
psychological functioning (Compton, 2001; Diener, 1984, 2000; Kahneman, et al.
1999; Ryff, 1989a, 1989b, 1989c; Ryff & Keyes, 1995). Alternatively, eudaimonism
focuses positive psychological functioning and covers development of eudaimonia,
which is an Aristotelian concept sustained by existential and humanistic values, that
intends to express the capacity for human self-realization, development and
flourishing (Keyes, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005; Ryan & Deci, 2001; Ryff & Keyes,
1995; Ryff & Singer, 1998). In addition to the humanistic current in psychology,

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Carol Ryff was among the first to adopt the concept of eudemonia. The well-being
model proposed by this researcher enables focus on the nuclear dimensions of
positive psychological functioning, and integrates well-being into the positive mental
health field. To this end, it is comprised of positive mental health field containing
the following six dimensions: a) self-acceptance, which is characterized by the
perception and acceptance of multiple aspects of the individual (whether good or
bad aspects) and positive assessment of their past; b) positive relations with others,
which consists in the establishment of positive relationships with others; c)
autonomy, expresses the feeling of self-determination and capacity for self- control;
d) environmental mastery, presented in the form of the ability to manage one’s
own life and the demands extrinsic to the individual; e) purpose in life-involves the
definition of meaning in life, developmental support and self- fulfillment; and, f)
personal growth- which focuses on the sense of continuous development to
maximize the individual’s potential (Ryff, 1989a, 1989b, 1989c).

Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-being

Ryff developed an instrument for self-assessment that enables
operationalization of the PWB model (Ryff, 1989b) and which originally consisted of
120 theoretically defined (theory-driven) items (20 per scale). Currently, there are
various reduced versions of the instrument (84, 54, 42, and 18 items, respectively),
translated into different languages (Ryff & Singer, 1996). It is important to establish
the construct validity of a measure by examining the extent to which the presumed
components emerge in factor-analytic studies. It is also imperative that the items
making up a measure load on the appropriate factors. Establishing the construct
validity of a measure is one way to establish the usefulness of a scale (Kozma et al.
1990). However, among the limited number of studies concerning the structure of the
Ryff scales most have been based on the English version of the measure.
Consequently, it is unclear whether these findings are applicable to data from other
samples using translated versions of the Ryff’s scales.
Cross-cultural comparisons in psychological research aiming to test the
equivalence of research instruments across cultural groups are imperative
prerequisites for testing the cross-cultural applicability of theories and models (Sue,
1999). With the growing interest for studying well-being in cross-cultural settings, it
is vital to get more information on the validity of the Ryff measure in different
countries and, especially, in different languages (Lopez & Snyder, 2003). The
primary intent of this research was the translation of the Ryff’s psychological well-
being scales (RPWB) in the national language of Pakistan, and then analysis of
psychometrics properties of the Urdu version of RPWB. Thus, this research is an
effort to make available a scale (i.e., Psychological well-being) in ―Urdu‖ language
that can measure a crucial construct of well-being for researchers and mental health
professionals. Successful completion of this research would provide a reliable and
valid measure in national language (Urdu) to assess the construct of psychological
well-being specifically for Pakistani population and generally for Urdu speaking
population.

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Urdu is one of 27 languages that has 80 million native speakers and it is the
fifth most spoken language in the world (Statistics Canada, 2003; Urdu- Official
Language of Pakistan). Of the 10 largest immigrants groups in Canada, Urdu
showed the highest growth rate from 2001 to 2006, an increase of 80% from 87,000
speakers to 156,000 (Statistics Canada, 2006). It is the official language of Pakistan
and Pakistan is included in the top ten countries of origin for immigrants to Canada
as 60,000 Pakistanis immigrated to Canada during the period 2001 to 2006.
Currently, 100,000 Pakistani immigrants reside in Toronto, Canada (Statistics
Canada, 2005; 2006). Therefore, psychometrically adequate research instruments
in Urdu are needed to better understand the health and well-being of the Pakistani
immigrants in Canada and other Urdu-speaking countries.
Migration is occurring on a historically unprecedented scale as over 100
million people are estimated to reside outside their country of origin (Abbot, 1997).
In almost all advanced industrial countries, such as England, France Germany,
Canada and the United States, immigration has been a topic of concern (Kosic,
2004). International migration is often considered as one of the most significant and
stressful life events of one’s life. It normally places enormous demands on the
individual for personal change and adaptation to a markedly different social,
cultural, linguistic, and climatic environment (Lin, Ye, & Ensel, 1999). For both
immigrants and refugees, the process of migration implies a certain degree of
cultural shock that entails mourning the loss of the old county and of love objects,
coupled with the need to face new situations and interpersonal encounters
(Grinberg & Grinberg, as cited in Espin, 1987). The experience of international
migration, sudden changes in many areas of a person’s life (e.g., socio-economic
status, social networks, and family structure and function) within a short span of
time, and subsequent adaptation process often causes stress (Lin et al. ;
Sonderegger & Barrett, 2004).
In view of the above, the growing ratio of international migration directs
health care professionals to focus on the immigrants’ mental and physical health
issues. Immigrants’ adverse experiences in employment life, such as status loss,
discrimination, unemployment and underemployment usually have negative impact
on both psychological well-being and adaptation to another country (Aycan &
Berry, 1996; Aroian, Norris, Patsdaughter, & Tran, 1998). So, there is need to
study the impact of immigration experience on immigrants and to examine the
factors that contribute their well-being.
The data for the present study was available from PhD research project that
intended to offer some insight into how Pakistani immigrants sustain positive
emotions under stressful condition (e.g., after migration to Canada). Canada is a
cosmopolitan country where the diversity in the ethnic composition of the existing
population has signalled the need for researchers to have a better understanding of
the health and well-being of culturally diverse population (Lai & Surood, 2008). It is
evident that research has been particularly lacking on the cultural adjustment of
South Asians—those coming from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal,
Bhutan or the Maldives (Sheth, 1995). It is important to note that Pakistani
immigrants are an understudied and neglected ethnic minority group lumped
together with other South Asians. Thus far few published studies have examined

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the impact of immigration experience and the factors contributing their well being
solely within Pakistani immigrant groups. As the number of Pakistani immigrants is
expected to continue growing, it is important to understand how they adapt to
Canadian society, and the problems they may encounter in this process.
Previous research findings have shown that the demographic correlates of
psychological well-being are not the same for immigrants as for native populations
(Aroian et al., 1997). It has been noted in migration and well-being literature that
demographic variables, although associated with psychological well-being,
accounted for less than 15% of the variability in well-being (Campbell, 1981;
Diener, 1984). An examination of literature shows that certain socio-demographic
and migration-related variables (e.g., age, income, employment related experience,
etc) predict level of positive well-being and distress for immigrants (Mehta, 1998).
Many studies indicate (Kathryn, 2001; Uskul & Greenglassc, 2005) that increasing
age of immigrants is related to greater level of psychological well-being and
optimism. Income is another important variable that is related to psychological
adjustment of immigrants in new culture as it often inoculates individuals from
problems that can be solved with financial resources (Ataca & Berry, 2002; Aycan
& Berry, 1996). The literature (Aycan & Berry, 1996; Berry, 1997) also suggests
that immigrants’ employment related experiences have critical implications for
immigrants' psychological well-being and adaptation. Usually, better adapted
immigrants report being more satisfied with their employment conditions. Also,
those individuals who experienced greater underemployment or loss in their status
were less satisfied with their lives in Canada and less likely to describe them as
accomplished in economic life (Starr & Roberts, 1982).
The literature indicates that pre-migration psychological resource and high
motivation for immigration, a positive attitude towards the host country, and
awareness about the conditions leads towards better well- being and low level of
stress and homesickness among immigrants (Tartakovsky, 2007; Murphy&
Mahalingam, 2006). Migration often involves leaving behind family, friends,
acquaintances, and neighbours and it has been indicated that social support is not
only vital in itself for positive well-being, but it also provides a powerful coping
resource for persons experiencing stressful life changes, including the stress of
adjusting to an unfamiliar culture (Mallinckrodt & Leong, 1992). The presence of
people from the host society in the support network helps the immigrants to adjust
to the host society (Garcia et al. 2002). The direct positive effect of social support
networks on an individual’s well-being in general (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Komproe,
et al. 1997) and on immigrants’ adjustment in particular have been reported (Hovey
& Magana, 2002).
The current study will provide insight on the structural validity of an Urdu
translation of 54-items Ryff’s scales of Psychological well-being with six sub-scales.
Additionally, this study will explore the relation of psychological well-being with
demographic and acculturation-related variables. Acculturation refers to that
phenomenon, which occurs when individuals or groups experience this
phenomenon while adjusting to a new culture (Berry, 1987). Therefore, the
primary aim of this study is to establish the construct validity of the RPWB 54-item
(Urdu version) in Pakistani immigrants residing in Toronto, Canada. It is

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hypothesized that RPWB would focus the salient dimensions of Ryff scales by
loading primarily on only one factor and not loading strongly on another factor.
Further, confirmatory factor analysis of the RPWB 54-item (Urdu version) would
result in the finding that responses to the RPWB could be explained by six factors
identified as autonomy, environmental mastery personal growth, positive relations
with others, purpose in life, ands-acceptance. It is also hypothesized that
demographic (e.g., age, perceived income comfort level, relevance of the current
job to the qualification and experience) and acculturation-related characteristics
(social support, willingness in the decision to migrate, and expectations before
migration) significantly contribute to the prediction of psychological well-being.

Methodology
Translation of Ryff’s Scale into Urdu
Dr.Carol Ryff, consented the author to translate the scale into Urdu. The
process of developing equivalent instruments in more than one language involves
not only translation of the test items and test materials, but other changes such as
changes in the items format and testing procedures (test adaptation). Multiple issues
pertaining to test translation need to be considered in order to have instrument that
are appropriate for cross cultural comparisons. According to Ericikan (1998) a
good translation must reflect not only the meaning of the original item, but should
also try to maintain the same relevance, intrinsic
interest and familiarity of the item content; otherwise what the item measures may
be altered.
The present scale was translated in Urdu language using the method of
forward and backward translation (Brislin, Lonner, & Throndike, 1973).

Formulation of the expert panel.

There were three experts contacted for the purpose of translation and
modification of the items according to the culture. The expert panel of the present
study included one psychologists holding PhD in psychology, one expert with
Masters in English Language and one professional translator having command in
both English and Urdu languages. All of them were briefed about the construct
measured in the test, Pakistani culture and also with the principles of adaptation.

Forward translation. Test translation is only one of the steps in the process
of test adaptation. With a forward translation design, a single translator, or
preferably, a group of translators adapt the test from the source language to the
target language (Hambleton, 2005). For this purpose the measure was given to three
qualified and experienced translators who translated the original English of the
PWB Questionnaire into the target language. The translated version of scale was
then given to critically review and the revisions were made according the suggestions
and comments of the experts. The most consistent items were then selected to

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compile the final Urdu version. Then a draft was prepared for the backward
translation.

Backward translation. In backward translation, after adapting a test from the

source language to the target language, different translators take the adapted test (in
the target language) and adapt back to the source language (Hambleton, 2005). In
this step three bilingual experts, who had not previously seen the original version of
the measure, translated the translated version of the measure back into English.
The backward translation was compared with the original version and judgments
were made about their equivalence by team of psychologists and translated items
were revised if necessary. Some of the items after back translation not related to the
original concepts were then modified and rephrased by team of experts. This
translated version was cross-checked with the original English version and reviewed
by the experts for the translation inaccuracies. Then a final draft was prepared for
pilot testing.

Pilot testing. After the completion of backward translation procedures,

some volunteer participants completed English and Urdu versions of the SPWB.
The experts were consulted again to check the item difficulty, its clarity precision
and content of the items. The suggestion that were given with respect to the wording
and concept of the scale and its meaning has been taken into account. After making
consensus by the experts one measure was finalized and was assessed for its
psychometric properties. (See appendix A).

Participants
The sample was composed of 308 Pakistani born adult married immigrants.
Both employed and unemployed immigrants were included. The current research
study only included those immigrants who were in the process of becoming long-
term residents. The age of the participants ranged between 25 to 50 years and the
duration of their stay or migration in Canada ranged from one to five years.
Respondents were restricted to only one individual from each family or household.
Measures
Ryff’s scale of psychological well-being (RSPWB). The Ryff’s scale of
psychological well-being (RSPWB) 54-item is a theoretically-grounded instrument
that focuses on measuring six dimensions of psychological well-being: self-
acceptance, personal growth, purpose in life, positive relations with others,
environmental mastery, and autonomy (Ryff, 1989b). Each dimensional scale
contains 9 items equally split between positive and negative items. Items are scored
on a 6-point scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
Demographic information sheet. It was used to obtain the demographic and
acculturation-related information (social support, willingness in the decision to
migrate and nature of expectations about Canada from the participants). Researcher
developed this sheet based on the review of the relevant research literature (Pernice

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& Brook, 1996; Aycan & Berry, 1996; Hovey & Magana, 2002; Krishnan, & Berry,
1992; Mehta, 1998; Murphy & Mahalingam, 2006; Tartakovsky, 2007). The
researcher included one question regarding social support (number of family
members or relatives living with respondent), the intensity of willingness to migrate
to Canada (very much, moderate, to some extent and not at all), and one question
about expectations to live in Canada (very positive, to some extent positive, to some
extent negative, and very negative). In the initial stage of data collection, some
missing responses were analyzed regarding the monthly income of the participants.
Further, the income of the majority of the participants was not matching with their
current occupation or job status. Therefore, the questions about the current
monthly income and personal identification of the participants were omitted.

Demographic and acculturation related characteristics of participants. The

sample was fairly distributed as 57% were men and 42 % were women and the
mean age of the participants was 35.8 years (SD = 7.31), with a range from 25 to 50
years. The mean length of their residence was 3.4 years (SD = 1.36) and ranged
from 1 to 20 years. Approximately 25% of the participants were involved in physical
labour, 17% were employed in human service, or technician or clerical type jobs,
and 14% were doing management or professional jobs. Twenty nine percent of the
participants were house wives and a small percentage was involved in their personal
business. In terms of income comfort level, on a scale from 1 (not at all satisfied) to
4 (high level of comfort), the mean was 2.7 (SD = .92). In the present study,
willingness in the decision to migrate variable was measured on a scale from 1 ( not
at all) to 4 (very much), the mean was 3.4 (SD = 5.5). About 20% of the sample
indicated very positive expectations about Canada before migration, 50 % reported
to some extent positive, 7% indicated to some extent negative and approximately 1
% reported very negative expectations.

Sampling Procedure

This study was approved by the Advance Board of Studies and Research
Committee, University of the Punjab, Pakistan. Following the ethics approval,
potential participants living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) were identified.
Samples were obtained by applying a non-random purposive or judgmental
sampling technique as the researcher wanted to select the specified group based on
judgment and experience. The researcher consulted Pakistani community centers;
Pakistani populated community buildings, English language learning centers,
shopping centers, Pakistani grocery stores, and used word of mouth to recruit
individuals who met the inclusion criteria of the present study. Formal permission
was obtained from the management of various residential buildings in the GTA.
Data was collected using mail and face to face administration of survey
questionnaires and only those participants who gave the informed consent were
included in this study.

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Results

The data regarding outlier, coding error and missing value points on the
individual questionnaire items were checked. Descriptive statistics and tests of
normal distribution revealed a normal distribution of the psychological well-being
scales (see table 1, 2). The construct validity of the RPWB 54-item was tested
against Urdu version RPWB. Estimated internal item correlation coefficients of the
translated scales were (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.84).

Table 1
Descriptive Statistics of the Ryff’s Psychological Well-being Subscales
Scale N Mean SD Min Max Variance

Auto 294 33.71 6.23 15.00 54.00 38.86

E. M 301 39.12 7.67 16.00 54.00 58.90

P. G 293 38.85 7.10 19.00 73.00 50.52

P.R 291 40.27 7.89 13.00 54.00 62.28

P.I. L 294 40.63 7.57 21.00 85.00 57.42

S-a 288 37.34 6.44 14.00 63.00 41.55

Note. Ryff’s Psychological well-being 54 item 6 factor model. E.M = Environmental mastery;
P.G = Personal growth; P.R = Positive relation; P. I. L = Purpose in life; S-a = Self-acceptance.
Internal consistency coefficients are in parentheses.

Inter-correlation among six subscales range between (r = 0.25 to 0.65)

correspondingly: autonomy and environmental mastery (r = .43 ), autonomy and
personal growth (r = .25), autonomy and positive relations (r = .34), autonomy and
purpose in life (r = .28), autonomy and self-acceptance ( r = .39), environmental
mastery and personal growth (r = .38), environmental mastery and purpose in life
(r = .56), environmental mastery and self- acceptance (r =.65), environmental
mastery and positive relations (r =.64), positive growth and positive relations (r =.46
), positive growth and purpose in life (r =.50 ), positive growth and self-acceptance
(r = .35), positive relations and purpose in life (r =.58 ), positive relations and self-
acceptance (r = .60), purpose in life with self-acceptance (r = .46) were significant at
0.01 (see table 3). Obtained a value suggests that probability of individual item
responses on six subscales were consistently same with the total responses (see table
3).

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Table 2
Item Total Statistics Ryff’s Psychological Well-being Subscales
Scales Scale Mean Scale Variance Corrected Squared Cronbach’s
(if item (if item Item Total Multiple Alpha(if item
deleted) deleted) Correlation Correlation deleted)
Auto 425.6 3827.8 .511 .952 .780

E. M 420.3 3489.6 .784 .961 .746

P. G 420.6 3706.2 .623 .957 .768

P.R 419.3 3457.2 .788 .968 .743

P.I.L 418.7 3556.5 .719 .967 .753

S-a 422.1 3657.8 .724 .951 .761

TWB 229.4 1078.2 .999 .998 .843

Note. E. M= Environmental mastery; P. G =Personal growth; P. R = Positive relations; P. I. L=
Purpose in life; S-a = Self-acceptance; TWB = Total psychological well-being. All correlations are
significant at the .001 level.

Table 3
Inter-Correlation and Internal Consistency Coefficient (Cronbach’s α) of the Ryff’s
Subscales
Scales Auto E. M P. Growth P. Relations P. I. Life S-acceptance
Auto (.51) .43 .25 .34 .28 .39

E. M (.73) .38 .65 .56 .65

P. G (.49) .46 .50 .35

P.R (.75) .57 .60

P.I. L (.46) .46

S-a (.25)
Note. Ryff’s Psychological well-being 54 item 6 factor model. E.M = Environmental mastery; P.G =
Personal growth; P.R = Positive relation; P. I. L = Purpose in life; S-a = Self-acceptance. Internal
consistency coefficients are in parentheses.

The factorial validity of the RPWB (Urdu version) was addressed through
the use of confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM)
techniques (Byrne, 2001; Jöreskog& Sörbom, 2004).Maximum likelihood
estimation (MLE) method using AMOS 16.0 software, was employed because tests
of departure from normality, skewness and kurtosis for all variables used (except
union intensity) were within acceptable statistical limits (Fig.1).

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We analyzed a set of fit indexes for determining the adequacy of the

proposed measurement model. The indices selected for the analysis included GFI
(the Goodness of Fit Index), CFI (the Comparative Fit Index), IFI (the Incremental
Fit Index) and the RMSEA (the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation). The
GFI measures ―how much better the model fits as compared to no model all‖ and
it is a measure of the relative amount of observed variance and covariance
accounted for by the model (Jöreskog & Sorbom, 1993, p. 122; Hoyle & Panter,
1995). The CFI traces the relative improvement of the assessed model over a null
where all observed variables are assumed to be uncorrelated. The CFI ranges from
zero to 1.00, with values over 0.95 indicating a well-fitting model (Hu & Bentler,
1999). The RMSEA considers the fit of the model to the population covariance
/correlation matrix. A value of RMSEA less than 0.05 indicates a close fit and a
value less than 0.08 represent a reasonable approximation (Byrne, 2001). Adequate
model fit is represented by GFI, CFI, and IFI values greater than .90 (Hoyle &
Panter) and RMSEA values below .08 (Byrne, 1998). The following values were
obtained for the chosen fit indices: GFI = .87; CFI = .85; IFI = .82; and, RMSEA =
.073. Given that the selected fit indices are moderate but consistent in their
reflection of a good-fitting model, the results support the six factor structure of the
RPWB.
Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficients indicated significant
positive relationship of psychological well-being with demographic and
acculturation-related variables including age (r = .16, p< .01); income (r = .30, p<
.001); job relevance (r = .18, p< .01); number of family members (r = .13, p< .05);
and willingness in the decision to migrate (r = .15, p< .05), and expectations about
Canada (r = .14, p<.05). Moreover, the associations between demographic variables
and psychological well-being and acculturation-related variables and psychological
well-being were examined by performing separate regression analyses (enter
method) for each of the six dimensions of the Ryff scales. The stepwise regression
analyses showed that demographic factors explained between 2% (personal growth)
and 14% (environmental mastery) of the variance in the different dimensions of the
Ryff scales.

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e1 AT1
e2 AT2 .39
.23 e62
e3 AT3 .56
e4 AT4 .01
.05
e5 AT5 .49 AUT
.54
e6 AT6 .17
.25
e7 AT7
e8 AT8
e9 AT9
e10 EM1
e11 EM2 .54
.57 e63
e12 EM3 .50 .77
e13 EM4 .51
.54
e14 EM5 .38 EM
.26
e15 EM6 .71
.47
e16 EM7
e17 EM8 .91
e61
e18 EM9
e19 PG1
e20 PG2 .31 Psychological Well-being
.23 e64
e21 PG3 .06
.94
e22 PG4 .50
.46
e23 PG5 .36 PG
.42
e24 PG6 .55
.29
e25 PG7
.89
e26 PG8
e27 PG9
e28 PR1
e29 PR2 .35
.57 e65
e30 PR3 .50 1.02
e31 PR4 .45
.60
e32 PR5 .54 PR
.39
e33 PR6 .52
.19
e34 PR7
.97
e35 PR8
e36 PR9
e37 PL1
e38 PL2 .34
.43 e66
e39 PL3 .51
e40 PL4 .61
.53
e41 PL5 .31 PILL
.48
e42 PL6 .31
.20
e43 PL7
e44 PL8
e45 PIL9
e46 SA1
e47 SA2 .47
.36 e67
e48 SA3 .53
e49 SA4 .42
-.10
e50 SA5 .62 SA
.48
e51 SA6 -.20
.22
e52 SA7
e53 SA8
e54 SA9

Figure 1. Ryff’s six factors psychological well-being model (54-items)

Of the demographic factors included in the analysis, age was significantly

positively associated with autonomy, environmental mastery, positive relations, and
purpose in life and self acceptance, with b coefficients varying between .17(p < .001;
autonomy) and .28 (p < .0001; environmental mastery). Analyses also indicated that
income comfort was significantly positively associated with autonomy,
environmental mastery, positive relations, and self acceptance, with b coefficients
varying between .20(p < .0001; autonomy) and .26 (p < .0001; self acceptance).
Furthermore, job relevance was significantly contributed in the prediction of
environmental mastery, with b coefficients varying between .13(p < .05; autonomy) and
.14(p < .05; environmental mastery). Acculturation-related variables including willingness in
the decision to migrate to Canada showed positive association with purpose in life

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.11(p < .05; autonomy) and .14(p < .01; self-acceptance), but expectations regarding
Canada before migration did not predict psychological well-being.

Discussion

The construct validity of the RPWB was tested against Urdu version
RPWB (see appendix A) and results of the present study overall supported the
tested hypotheses. The relationship between Urdu version RPWB and subscales
result in a single factor measured as proposed by Ryff. In this study, the cronbach‟s
alpha was obtained for Urdu version RPWB (54-items) total and its subscales
(Table 2). Estimated Internal item correlation coefficients of the total translated
scales were satisfactory (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.84) and inter-correlation among six
subscales were low to moderate ranging between (r = 0.28 to 0.64) (see table 2).
Internal consistency for Urdu version RSPWB (54-items) was acceptable for the
purpose of this present study as the measure whose Cronbach’s alpha exceeds .70
is considered to be a reliable one. These validate Ryff’s theory of six factor
psychological well-being measure.
The present analysis suggested moderate inter correlation among subscales
appeared between environmental mastery and purpose in life (r = .56),
environmental mastery and self- acceptance (r =.65), environmental mastery and
positive relations (r =.64), and positive relations and self-acceptance (r = .60).
Analyses of the relationship between the six dimensions of the Ryff’s scales--for
both the longer and the shortened versions of these scales--have generally revealed
moderate to high inter correlations (Keyes et al. 2002; Ryrr & Keyes, 1995). Ryff's
own studies (1989b; 1995) have reported high correlations among scores for the
constructs that were proposed as independent. It is possible that the measures may
not, in practice, adequately operationalise the constructs proposed by her theory.
For example, in Ryff's first study (1989) the inter-correlations among factor scores
for the six dimensions ranged from 0.32 to 0.76. The highest factor correlation
occurred between self-acceptance and environmental mastery (0.76), self
acceptance and purpose in life (0.72). As noted in the paper, these high
correlations can indicate a problem because: ―as the coefficients become stronger,
they raise the potential problem of the criteria not being empirically distinct from
one another‖ (Ryff, 1989b p. 1074). However, the authors point to differential
subscale age variations as evidence that the dimensions are distinct (Pudrovska,
Hauser, & Springer, 2005).
The moderate inter correlation among subscales also suggests dominance of
factors that determine psychological well-being in the Pakistani context. However,
considerably low inter-correlations among subscales of autonomy and personal
growth, autonomy and purpose in life scale and positive growth and self-acceptance
were contrary to Ryff’s six factor model of subjective psychological well-being. It
remains debatable: Do the items intended to measure each theoretical domain?
Whether 54 items are enough to measure subjective psychological well-being? Is
there an overlap of items pertaining to more than one domain? This may
recommend that subjective psychological well-being in the Pakistan context

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comprises of less than six subscales. Ryff’s theory of PWB equates autonomy with
self-determination, independence, internal locus of control, individuation, and
internal regulation of behaviour. Different dimensions have been used to
understand and examine characteristics of people from the different cultures. For
example, people from the individualistic cultures emphasize independence and
self-sufficiency where as people belonging to the collectivist culture are more likely
to be influenced by the majority and are conformist (Hui & Triandis, 1986). While
other authors assumed that autonomy is related to the individual or western
concept of liberty and freedom. However, present study suggests that the attribute
of autonomy also exist in non-western cultures like Pakistan. Such as item 35 on
RSPWB ―I have confidence in my opinions, even if they are contrary to the general
consensus‖ reveals higher consistency than other individual items on the subscale of
autonomy (r=0.32). It is important to note that contemporary societies are
undergoing major cultural transformations, so we cannot state that in traditional
societies the individuals possess only social identity without possessing the
individual one. Based on this fact, some of the social scientists state that conformity
and individualism are not mutually exclusive concepts but rather two poles of the
same dimension (Camilleri & Malevska-Peyre, 1997, p.52). According to cross
cultural researchers the main reasons for increasing individualist orientations in
collectivist societies are modernization, pragmatism, and expansion of market
orientation causing the substitution of traditional extended family links with new
relations of economic benefit (Goodwin, 1999, p.115).
Although, the factor correlations in the six-factor model were significant in
the hypothesized dimension but there was considerable variability in the magnitude
of these correlations ranging from small to quite substantial (.27 to .71). All items,
with the exception of autonomy (item 6) and personal growth (item 5) showed a
correlation below .30 suggesting areas for improvement in the 54-item model. The
reasons may include the item translation and cross cultural meaning, changes in the
item format and data collecting methods (in-person interviews) that affect item
equivalence in Urdu language. The literature (Clarke et al. 2001; Ryff & Keyes,
1995) also suggests that structural models of well-being using different modes can
produce substantially different findings. Thus, the consistent results from self-
administered scales are more credible than findings from the pre-test telephone
surveys. This also helps explain the seemingly discrepant findings in the literature.
As studies that have found lower factor correlations used telephone or in-person
interviews whereas studies that indicated less support for the multidimensionality of
RPWB used self-administered instruments (Kafka & Kozma 2002; van
Dierendonck, 2004).
In current study, the six dimensions have been considered sufficiently
distinct to be regarded as separate constructs and confirmatory factor analysis of the
underlying structure have reconfirmed the presumed six factor model with a single
factor (Clarke et al., 2001). Although, a set of fit indexes reconfirmed Ryff’s
underlying model using this specific 54-item version but there are also limitations
associated with the interpretation of six factor models. As noted by Kline (1998), a
good model fit should not be interpreted as having ―proved‖ the hypothesized
model and therefore, the present results do not rule out competing models

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including a three, four and two factor structure (van Dierendonck, 2004; Kafka &
Kozma, 2002; Hillson, 1999). Therefore, the possibility remains that one of these
alternative models might account for the factor structure of the RPWB in a better
way. Future analyses should be conducted in a manner to allow comparison of
alternative models such as those mentioned above.
The present study supported the previous findings that older participants
had better level of psychological well-being as compared to younger immigrants,
and this result find confirmatory evidence in the previous literature as Sowdosky
and Lai (1997) found that immigrants in young adulthood were at greater risk of
cultural adjustment difficulties than older individuals. Further, Finch et al. (2000)
also reported that young age of the immigrants and low educational level increase
the impact of negative acculturation experiences on mental health. The reason for
having lower psychological well-being in younger and newer immigrants is that they
lack competence in both official languages, difficulty in getting credentials and
accreditations recognized in Canada, and lack of Canadian work experience.
Further harsh conditions in employment life, such as status loss, unemployment,
and underemployment, had a negative impact on both psychological well-being and
adaptation to Canada (Aycan &Berry, 1996).
The current findings suggest the positive but small relation between income
comfort level and psychological well-being. The literature (Tomes, 1986) supports
the current finding regarding the degree of relation between SWB and income.
While justifying the small relationship of income with psychological well being
within nations, Diener and Biswas-Diener (2002) focused on the natural question
about the comparability of measures across countries. They suggested that
respondents in individualistic nations might be more likely to report happiness to
an interviewer than collectivists, who might want to appear humble and not stand
out from the group.
The current findings are in harmony with the previous literature (Aycan &
Berry, 1996) indicating positive relation between job relevance to previous
experience and education and psychological well-being. It has been revealed that
Asian immigrant families experience losses in terms of their prior careers or
professions and many have to take on low-wage positions (Espiritu, 1999). Aycan
and Berry (1996) examined employment-related experiences within Turkish
immigrants settled in Montreal and reported that those individuals who
experienced greater loss in their status were less satisfied with their lives in Canada.
They reported that adversity experienced in employment life such as status loss,
unemployment, and underemployment had a negative impact on both
psychological well-being and adaptation to Canada. Recently, Jafari et al. (2010)
conducted a study with Iranian imminent group living in British Colombia, Canada.
Their findings suggested that employment was a strong determinant of mental
health in Iranian immigrants. Employment was one of the main concerns among
their families and friends and most of the participants reported having difficulty
finding employment that matched their skills and education. Often, they were not
qualified to work in their profession, while they were told they were overqualified
for entry level jobs. In the present sample, participants despite their similar level of

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education and work experience were not able to regain their former occupation in
Canada.
The present findings are in harmony with the previous literature (Kathryn
2001; Helgson, 2003) suggesting that a number of family influences serve as
"protective" factors and protect the psychological well-being of immigrants. For
example, studies (Barnse & Bennett, 2002; Diwan, et al. 2004) conducted with
South Asian immigrants have found positive relationship between direct indicators
of social support (contact with friends and relatives) and psychological well being.
However, social support (number of family members living with the participants)
did not significantly account for the prediction of psychological well being. Tylor,
Kamarck, and Shiffman (2004) reported cultural differences among Asians and
Americans regarding the perception of social support. They found that Asians were
less likely to solicit social support for coping with stress than European Americans.
Additionally, it was indicated that people from the interdependent Asian culture
rely less on social support for coping with stress than people from the more
independent U.S. culture. In addition, Bolger, Zuckerman, and Kessler (2000)
found that when people actually drew on specific members of their social support
networks for help during stressful times, support seeking often served as an
additional cause of distress, because expressing one's needs to others was esteem
reducing, and drawing on another person for support was perceived to tax other
person's resources, such as time and attention.
The current results indicated that those who reported more willingness in
the decision to migrate to Canada before leaving Pakistan had better psychological
well-being. The more recent literature provides confirmatory evidence to the
current finding. The literature Tartakovsky (2007) indicates that high motivation
for immigration and pre-migration psychological resource, a positive attitude
towards the host country and awareness about the conditions leads towards better
well-being and low level of stress and homesickness among immigrants. Although,
current findings also indicated that immigrants reporting higher level of positive
expectations had higher level of psychological well-being, but expectations
regarding Canada before migration did not predict psychological well-being. The
present research findings are in harmony with the previous literature (Murphy &
Mahalingam, 2006). Overall findings indicated that perceived congruence was
positively associated with life satisfaction and negatively associated with depression.

Limitations and Implications

One of the major limitations is related to generalizeability as this study was

conducted in GTA-Canada, the findings cannot be generalized to larger Pakistani
population in different countries, and other ethic immigrant population in Canada.
Although efforts were made to select the sample that might mirror the actual
population of Pakistani immigrants; however, participants in the study might not
have been representative of the larger Pakistani immigrants. The other limitation of
this study is non-random purposive sampling. It is possible that the findings of this
study may be attributable to sample selection issues. Further, it relies on self-
reported assessments of psychological well-being. As with all self-report

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instruments, participants may respond in ways that are socially desirable rather than
reveal their actual response to each statement. Another limitation of the present
study is that both mail and face to face method of data collection were used. In
future, all participants should be provided with uniform administration to eliminate
any potential effect that may have on individual’s judgment about subjective well-
being. Further research should examine the relationship between RSPWB Urdu
version and other measures of subjective well-being, and potential positive
relationship between internal locus of control, emotional intelligence and subjective
psychological well-being.
RSPWB 54-item an Urdu version measures individual’s strength and
weakness and attitude toward optimal functioning that is central to implications with
Urdu speaking community setting in clinical and counselling setting. However,
findings suggest limitations that more work needs to be carried out to develop more
replicable structure for subjective psychological well-being. Since, observed low
inter correlations among subscales of autonomy and purpose in life scale, and
positive relations and self-acceptance subscale does not appear to authenticate six
dimensional structure of Ryff Scale of Psychological Well-being to assess. This can
be done by comparing RSPWB with other models of subjective psychological well-
being to identify structure of Psychological Well-being in Pakistani context.

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Appendix A
Psychological Well-being Questionnaire

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Author Note

The present article is based on research study that was conducted as part of PhD
degree at University of the Punjab, Lahore Pakistan. No funding was provided for
the completion of the study.

Tahira jibeen has competed PhD in Psychology (2010) at Department of

Psychology & Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
Currently she is working as Assistant Professor at COMSATS University for
Science and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Tahira Jibeen,

Department of Humanities, COMSATS Institute of Information and Technology,
Lahore, Pakistan.
E. mail address: tahiraimdadali@hotmail.com; tahirajibeen@ciitlahore.edu.pk

The second author Dr. Ruhi Khalid is the Director of Institute of Psychology,
Beaconhouse National University, Lahore and former Professor and Chairperson
of the Department of Psychology & Applied Psychology, Punjab University,
Lahore.
Dr. Ruhi Khalid, Institute of Psychology, Beaconhouse National University,
Lahore, Pakistan
E-mail address: rkhalid@bnu.edu.pk

© 2012 Time Taylor Academic Journals ISSN 2094-0734